Organisations & Operators,

The High Court has confirmed Truly Travel and Alpha Holidays, which traded as Teletext Holidays and Alpharooms respectively, failed to appropriately refund customers.
In a case brought by the Competition & Markets Authority (CMA), the companies were found to have breached Package Travel and Linked Travel Arrangements Regulations (PTRs).
These required them to refund customers for package holidays that were cancelled due to the Covid-19 pandemic within 14-days.
The CMA sought a declaration from the High Court in this case to highlight the importance of travel firms respecting consumers’ refund rights.
The body said it wants to ensure that “people can book package holidays with confidence, knowing that their legal rights will be respected if their holiday is cancelled due to unavoidable circumstances outside their control”.ADVERTISEMENTThis court action follows a significant programme of consumer protection law enforcement work by the CMA in the package travel sector, which has secured hundreds of millions of pounds in refunds for people whose holidays were cancelled due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
Because Truly Travel and Alpha Holidays have been placed into liquidation, Teletext Holidays or Alpharooms package travel customers with outstanding refunds are encouraged to submit a claim to the Travel Trust Association (TTA), which is now responsible for these.
Andrea Coscelli, chief executive of the CMA, said: “This should be a wake-up call to any business that thinks that it doesn’t need to honour customers’ refund rights.
“Today’s ruling confirms the CMA’s view that Teletext Holidays and Alpharooms broke the law by not providing the refunds customers were due within 14 days for cancelled package holidays.
“While this ruling comes after these firms have been placed in liquidation, we hope the decision will make it easier for people to get their money back for a cancelled holiday in the future.
“Customers of Teletext Holidays and Alpharooms with outstanding refunds should get in touch with the Travel Trust Association.”
The CMA launched court action against Truly Holdings, and its subsidiaries Truly Travel and Alpha Holidays, last year, over outstanding refunds owed to customers.
Truly Holdings had previously signed formal commitments, known as undertakings, requiring them to use all reasonable endeavours to pay outstanding refunds to passengers in an agreed schedule, and to ensure that all refunds due for cancelled package holidays going forward were paid within 14-days.
When the CMA found that Truly Holdings was not fully abiding by these undertakings, the CMA took the company to court.
The court claim for refunds was stayed – paused indefinitely – after the firms entered liquidation, but the CMA continued to seek a declaration from the court that these companies broke the law.
This has resulted in the ruling made today.
Rory Boland, editor of Which? Travel, said: “Teletext Holidays attempted to shirk its legal responsibilities to refund customers within 14-days for cancelled trips, leaving its exasperated customers out of pocket for years.
“Holidaymakers have been badly let down, but this important court ruling means they should finally be able to claim the money back they are owed.
“Teletext is not the only holiday company to break the law over refunds in recent years.
“The government must ensure there are better protections for holidaymakers’ money by giving regulators stronger powers to take action against companies that break consumer law – including the ability to impose fines if necessary.”

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Fraudsters are setting up bogus companies to sell imaginary flights and offering fake refunds to extract bank details and steal money as international travel reopens, Which? has warned.
The pandemic has provided new opportunities for fraudsters to exploit victims.
Covid-19-related scams spawned from rapidly-evolving travel rules; coupled with widespread desperation for holidays after months of lockdown, this has created the perfect conditions for cybercrime.
Even Brexit legislation has been leapt on by some unscrupulous traders as a chance to rip people off.
One of the cruellest scams has made victims out of people awaiting refunds for cancelled holidays.
Scammers are cold-calling travellers and impersonating airlines, travel agents and banks, claiming they need their bank details and personal information to process the refund.
But instead of doing so, they use this information to steal money from the customer, leaving them doubly out of pocket.
Which? has learnt of instances of fraudsters taking detailed steps to appear to be the business they are imitating, such as spoofing legitimate phone numbers and finding out booking details and exactly how much someone is owed.
A renewed appetite for holidays early in 2022 has left some families and individuals feeling under increasing pressure to secure their perfect getaway.
Rogue travel companies are selling fake flights and others are promoting some of the most popular stays with scam adverts on social media, offering apparent late or peak-season availability for holidays that appear to be sold out elsewhere, Which? research found. ADVERTISEMENTCustomers are enticed to click through to a website where they book and pay for a holiday that doesn’t exist.
Some unfortunate customers do not realise they have been defrauded until they turn up at the airport or at their accommodation and find they are unable to check in.
The National Health Service has also been imitated by criminals.
The NHS App gives proof of vaccination which can be used to gain entry to some of the most popular holiday destinations.
An email, containing a link to a website that looks like an official NHS platform, invites people to apply for a digital vaccine passport.
The email is in fact a phishing scam to steal personal information.
As fraudsters move swiftly to exploit new opportunities, Which? is calling on online platforms, banks and telecoms companies to do more to ensure their systems aren’t being exploited to target victims.
Added essential travel paperwork which emerged from Covid-19 and Brexit has also been used by unscrupulous companies to con people out of their money.
Which? has seen firms charging travellers as much as $99 (£75) for passenger locator forms, which can be obtained from the government for free.
When Which? carried out searches in November, 19 non-governmental results were returned on the first two pages of Google alone – all charging a fee.
Some appeared as an ad or ranked higher than the gov.uk site.
Similarly, some companies are charging fees for the GHIC (Global Health Insurance Card), which is free and was introduced to replace the EHIC after Brexit.
Which? has also found opportunists selling international driving permits for Spain for $49 (£36.25) – despite the permits costing just £5.50 from the Post Office.
Rory Boland, editor of Which? Travel, said: “Criminals are exploiting the pandemic and the demand for holidays in a wide range of ways, laying new traps to trick unsuspecting travellers out of their money.
“Our advice for consumers is be wary of unsolicited calls and messages, and be cautious about holiday deals from unfamiliar firms.
“If you think you’ve been the victim of a scam, you should report this to Action Fraud and your bank.
“Anyone who is struggling to get their money back from their bank should contact the Financial Ombudsman Service to review their case.”

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After 18 months of Covid-19 affected trading, On the Beach this morning said it was seeing “green shoots of recovery”.
Releasing a trading update ahead of its annual general meeting on Monday, the company said daily booked group sales exceeded 2019 levels on January 13th.
Group sales since the start of the financial year, including the period affected by Omicron, are down by just two per cent when compared to 2019.
Sales are also up by 389 per cent on 2021 – though On the Beach took large parts of its offering off sale last summer.
Simon Cooper, chief executive of On the Beach Group, commented: “After what has been a very difficult time for the travel industry, it has been incredibly pleasing to see consumer confidence and demand return in line with the loosening of travel restrictions in the UK and our destinations. ADVERTISEMENT“The group’s proactive actions taken throughout the pandemic have led to increased group sales in the higher value four- and five-star hotels, particularly for holidays to the Eastern Mediterranean.
“Our sales patterns continue to evolve to our core destinations and while we are seeing shorter lead times for these holidays, we are hopeful that the increasing consumer confidence will result in a strong lates market in those regions.”
The cash position on February 23rd was £19 million, which reflects significant investment in funding low deposit schemes and offline marketing.
This figure excludes £61 million of customer prepayments held in Trust.
The group also has an undrawn £75 million credit facility.
Cooper added: “While we are mindful of the ongoing inflationary pressures impacting our core consumer base, we look to the future with renewed confidence and believe On the Beach is favourably positioned to continue to gain market share as demand for beach holidays further normalises.”

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The United Nations World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO) and the World Health Organisation (WHO) have called for the lifting of travel bans as they do not provide added value and continue to contribute to economic and social stress.
The two UN agencies agreed to collaborate on a global trust architecture for recovery of the travel sector.
Over recent days, a growing number of countries around the world have started easing their rules for international arrivals, including the easing of travel bans.
These decisions are in line with WHO’s latest recommendations for safe international mobility, which highlight the ineffectiveness of blanket restrictions in controlling virus transmissions.
Such a trend is also consistent with UNWTO’s repeated warnings of the great social, economic and development harm of restrictions.ADVERTISEMENTIn Geneva, the leaders of UNWTO and WHO agreed on the importance of easing or lifting travel bans.
Blanket restrictions should be replaced with risk -based, evidence- informed, context-specific policies.
“Guided by UNWTO, global tourism has followed WHO advice from the very start of this crisis,” said UNWTO secretary general, Zurab Pololikashvili.
He underscored the need to “continue to do so, and to open up again, safely and responsibly, and allow tourism to deliver on its unique potential as a driver of recovery and growth”.
According to the WHO International Health Regulations (IHR) Emergency Committee on Covid-19, all measures applied to international travellers should be based on “risk assessments – including testing, isolation and vaccinations”.
Furthermore, the financial burden of such measures should not be placed on travellers themselves.
“As countries ease travel restrictions, health must remain the key priority. By basing their decisions on evidence and a risk-based approach adapted to their specific context, countries can find the right balance between keeping people safe, protecting livelihoods and the economy, and keeping borders open”, said WHO director general, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.

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ABTA has launched new guidance to help travel agents incorporate sustainability into their business practices.
The guidance was developed in response to feedback from travel agent members for more support on how to adopt a sustainable approach.
There is also a growing recognition of an appetite among consumers for sustainable travel.
ABTA research finds that almost three times as many people now say that sustainability is important to them when planning their holiday, compared to ten years ago.
But ABTA recognises that how agents can engage in sustainability varies depending on the size of their business and resources available. ADVERTISEMENTThe new guidance is designed to help agent members find a sustainability approach that is suitable for their business, whatever their size.
It focuses on the four areas of sustainability – environment, destination management, animal welfare and human rights – as identified in the Tourism for Good report.
As well as summarising the different issues within each area, the guidance also includes advice on steps agents can take and case studies on what industry is doing, including from agents, tour operators and other suppliers.
As part of the guidance, ABTA recommends three ways travel agent Members could approach sustainability:

Address your own business operations – identify actions to reduce resource use, look after your staff or support your community.
Explore sustainability in your supply chain – find out how your suppliers are addressing sustainability. For example, do you sell any Travelife hotels? Do you know how aviation is reducing its emissions? Are you aware of products that most tour operators won’t sell and why, such as elephant riding or orphanage visits?
Engage your customers – think about how you can profile holidays that benefit communities or nature in your marketing and social media activities, to engage your customers and maximise your sales.
The guidance is free to ABTA Members and is relevant for all types of agents including online travel agents, those with high street stores or individuals working from home. It can be found on the ABTA MemberZone. It also includes links to ABTA’s other resources on sustainability including tips on how to sell sustainability.

Susan Deer, director of industry relations at ABTA, said: “Sustainability is rising up the agenda on all fronts – from customers to politicians, but it can be hard for travel agents to know where to start when it comes to adopting a sustainable approach as well as finding the time and resource to do this.
“We know agents have a lot on their plate in terms of rebuilding from the pandemic, so we want to make it as easy as possible for them to look at how they can incorporate sustainability into their businesses.
“Through our guidance we hope to help agents see how they can approach sustainability, recognising that even small steps can make a big difference, and that activities could help to save money on overheads and support sales conversations with customers.”
She concluded: “Even if customers aren’t raising sustainability with agents directly – it doesn’t mean that it isn’t on their mind.
“By being proactive and easing it into sales conversations, agents could help people feel more confident to book, particularly as 41 per cent say they are more likely to book with a travel company with a better sustainability record.”

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The UK Civil Aviation Authority has successfully prosecuted Romanian airline Blue Air Aviation for six offences under the Covid Enforcement Regulations.
Following a sentencing hearing at Uxbridge Magistrates’ Court, the carrier has been fined £40,000, after pleading guilty to the offences.
Five of the offences concern Blue Air Aviation failing to ensure that passengers arriving at Heathrow had completed the required Passenger Locator Form.
The sixth offence concerns the operator failing to ensure an arriving passenger had the required evidence showing that they had completed a pre-departure Covid-19 test.
The prosecution and fine follows Blue Air Aviation receiving fixed penalty notices for the breaches of Covid-19 requirements, which they did not pay or seek to resolve with the Civil Aviation Authority.ADVERTISEMENTThis is the first prosecution of an airline under the Covid Enforcement Regulations, which gave new enforcement powers to the Civil Aviation Authority to ensure airlines check passengers arriving in England are complying with the Covid rules for international travel.
Commenting on the ruling by the Court, Paul Smith, consumer director at the UK Civil Aviation Authority, said: “We welcome the Court’s decision to fine Blue Air Aviation over breaches of the Covid Enforcement Regulations.
“While we generally observe high levels of compliance from airlines against the regulations, it is important for consumer confidence and public health that failures to follow the requirements are dealt with appropriately.
“It is important that airlines including Blue Air continue to engage with us going forward.
“The UK Civil Aviation Authority will always look to prosecute breaches of compliance where necessary.”

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The secretary general of the United Nations World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO) will be in Geneva this week for high-level talks focused on the restart of tourism as restrictions on travel are eased in many parts of the world.
UNWTO last undertook an official visit to the home city of the World Health Organisation (WHO) in 2019, just one day before Covid-19 was officially declared a pandemic.
Now, as Switzerland joins growing numbers of countries in lifting or easing travel restrictions, UNWTO is back in Geneva for a week of meetings with key partners.
On Tuesday secretary general, Zurab Pololikashvili, will meet with WHO director general, Thedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, to discuss shared actions and priorities as the world begins opening up again.
The two UN agencies will discuss the need for the continued easing of restrictions, having repeatedly warned against their ineffectiveness and the damage that blanket bans on mobility can have on economic and social wellbeing. ADVERTISEMENTStrengthening ties with key private sector and civil society partners is crucial in the current circumstances.
Pololikashvili will meet with the director general of the International Air Transport Association (IATA), Willie Walsh, as well as with Pierfrancesco Vago, chief executive of the Cruise Lines International Association (CLIA).
These meetings will be followed by an official visit to the headquarters of UEFA.
Here, president Aleksander Čeferin will sign a first-ever agreement with UNWTO aimed at promoting sports tourism as a driver of positive change and making the sector more inclusive and resilient.
Against the backdrop of Switzerland announcing its plans to significantly ease restrictions on incoming travel, the UNWTO delegation will meet with Eric Jakob, ambassador of the Swiss State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO), whose brief includes tourism policy, as well as with Martin Nydegger, chief executive of Switzerland Tourism.
In another first, UNWTO will be addressing the UN press briefing at UN Geneva, providing an overview of the outcomes of the official visit and highlights on the tourism for development agenda for 2022.

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The International Air Transport Association (IATA) has released data showing growing momentum in the recovery of air travel as restrictions are lifted.
The body reported a sharp 11-percentage point increase for international tickets sold in recent weeks (in proportion to 2019 sales).
In the period around February 8th, over a seven-day moving average, the number of tickets sold stood at 49 per cent of the same period in 2019.
In the period around January 25th, again over a seven-day moving average, the number of tickets sold stood at 38 per cent of the same period in 2019.ADVERTISEMENTThe 11-percentage point improvement between the January and February periods is the fastest such increase for any two-week period since the crisis began.
The jump in ticket sales comes as more governments announce a relaxation of Covid-19 border restrictions.
“Momentum toward normalising traffic is growing.
“Vaccinated travellers have the potential to travel much more extensively with fewer hassles than even a few weeks ago.
“This is giving growing numbers of travellers the confidence to buy tickets.
“And that is good news!
“Now we need to further accelerate the removal of travel restrictions.
“While recent progress is impressive, the world remains far from 2019 levels of connectivity.
“Thirteen of the top 50 travel markets still do not provide easy access to all vaccinated travellers.
“That includes major economies like China, Japan, Russia, Indonesia, and Italy,” said Willie Walsh, IATA director general.

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