Organisations & Operators,

The Competition & Markets Authority (CMA) has launched its investigation into Teletext Holidays.
The probe, launched under consumer protection law, comes after the body received hundreds of complaints that people were not receiving refunds for package holidays cancelled due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
In some instances, Teletext customers reported that they were promised refunds by a certain date, only to have that date pushed back.
The CMA will now engage with Teletext to gather further evidence on whether the company has broken consumer protection law.
Andrea Coscelli, chief executive of the CMA, said: “We understand that the pandemic is presenting challenges for travel businesses, but it is important that the interests of consumers are properly protected and that businesses comply with the law.

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“We’ll be engaging with Teletext to establish whether the law has been broken and will take further action if necessary.”
The announcement follows significant action by the CMA in relation to holiday cancellations.
The government body has written to over 100 package holiday firms to remind them of their obligations to comply with consumer protection law, and has secured refund commitments from a number of holiday firms, including Love Holidays, Lastminute.com, Virgin Holidays, TUI UK, Sykes Cottages and Vacation Rentals.
The CMA is also investigating whether airlines have breached consumers’ legal rights by failing to offer cash refunds for flights they could not lawfully take due to the pandemic.
Rory Boland, editor of Which? Travel, said: “Which? has received a steady stream of complaints from Teletext Holidays customers who have been left chasing refunds for cancelled holidays, so it is right that the CMA is investigating the company.
“Nearly a year on from the first wave of cancellations, it’s unacceptable for anyone to still be waiting for their money back.
“Customers have been understanding of the difficult circumstances travel companies faced in the past year, but it’s clear now that some operators feel empowered to act with impunity.
“The regulator should establish the scale of the problem and, if necessary, quickly take appropriate action against the company to send a clear message that it will not stand for this kind of behaviour.”
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World Travel & Tourism Council chief executive, Gloria Guevara, has praised the rollout of Covid-19 vaccines in the UK, arguing the programme will support the recovery of the hospitality sector.
Latest government figures show more than ten million Brits have had at least one does of a vaccine, or around 15 per cent of the adult population.
Many are in the most vulnerable groups, including those over 70-years-of-age, employed in healthcare or by nursing homes.
In response, Guevara said: “The World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC) recognises the tremendous progress made by the UK government to lead the world with its comprehensive vaccine rollout across the country, together with a highly-targeted testing programme, to stop the spread of the virus.

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“We believe these two measures are critical to beating Covid-19 and getting the country back on its feet and on the move again.
“That is why we support the comments made by UK transport minister, Robert Courts, who warned borders would be harder to reopen under a blanket travel shutdown.
“WTTC has long opposed costly and ineffective blanket travel bans and quarantines, as they are stalling the country’s economic recovery and significantly slowing the revival of the global tourism sector.”
She added: “Shutdowns are also shown to be entirely counterproductive and simply don’t stop the spread of Covid-19, and its emerging variants.
“We fully support the points made by the minister and agree that a total shutdown is not the way forward to prevent the spread of Covid-19 and argue that a wider shutdown would be harder to lift, as has been the case in both Australia and New Zealand.
“WTTC believes that the only way to save tourism while protecting public health, is the introduction of an internationally recognised testing scheme on departure and arrival.
“A rapid and cost-effective testing regime would avoid exporting the virus and enable the free movement of travellers which would see the return of a sector, critical to powering the UK economy post Covid-19.”
Image: Jane Barlow/PA Wire/PA Images
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Tucan Travel has ceased trading as the downturn in travel following the Covid-19 pandemic continues to take a toll on the hospitality sector.
The company operated group itineraries in the Americas, Asia, Africa and Europe as well as a tailor-made department, offering bespoke tours in Latin America and Asia.
Martyn Sumners, executive director of AITO, said: “Matt Gannan had been in business for 34 years – since 1987 – and joined AITO 11 years ago.
“He was on council from 2016 – coming up for five years – and was thus a director of AITO until today.
“Matt put a lot of effort into finding solutions for AITO members while he was on council, and we shall miss his input considerably.”

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Tucan Travel suspended its tour operations in March last year and tried throughout this difficult Covid-19 scenario to look after both staff and customers’ needs, but has now had to admit defeat.
Gannan added: “We’ve had to make many staff redundant over the past ten months in an effort to keep the company alive; most of them were loyal, long-serving staff with families to support.
“Unfortunately, this situation now extends to all staff, which is devastating.
“With clients wishing to receive immediate full refunds of money paid in advance to secure many services on their behalf, and smaller overseas hotels and service providers not having the resources to repay what is owed to tour operators until they are able to reopen their businesses and earn money again, the further tough lockdowns have forced us – with a heavy heart – to place the company into administration.
“I would like to thank all clients, suppliers and staff for their support over many years and hope that all of you get to enjoy travelling again in the future.”
Approximately 700 customers’ travel arrangements will be affected by the demise of Tucan Travel – holidays that were booked in the UK and in Australia. 
The value of these bookings is circa £850,000, and it will be covered by the company’s CAA ATOL and ABTOT bonds.
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Global tourism suffered its worst year on record in 2020, with international arrivals dropping by 74 per cent when compared to 2019 according to the latest data from the United Nations World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO).
Destinations worldwide welcomed one billion fewer international arrivals in 2020 than in the previous year, due to an unprecedented fall in demand and widespread travel restrictions.
This compares with the four per cent decline recorded during the 2009 global economic crisis.
According to the latest UNWTO World Tourism Barometer, the collapse in international travel represents an estimated loss of US$1.3 trillion in export revenues – more than 11 times the loss recorded during the 2009 global economic crisis.
The crisis has put between 100 and 120 million direct tourism jobs at risk, many of them in small and medium-sized enterprises. 

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Due to the evolving nature of the pandemic, many countries are now reintroducing stricter travel restrictions.
These include mandatory testing, quarantines and in some cases a complete closure of borders, all weighing on the resumption of international travel.
At the same time, the gradual rollout of a Covid-19 vaccine is expected to help restore consumer confidence, contribute to the easing travel restrictions and slowly normalize travel during the year ahead.
UNWTO secretary general, Zurab Pololikashvili, said: “While much has been made in making safe international travel a possibility, we are aware that the crisis is far from over.
“The harmonisation, coordination and digitalization of Covid-19 travel-related risk reduction measures, including testing, tracing and vaccination certificates, are essential foundations to promote safe travel and prepare for the recovery of tourism once conditions allow.”
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Finn Partners has a new strata to their senior leadership team with the creation of the Finn Partners Travel Practice Advisory Board.
The founding members of the board are former United Nations World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO) secretary general, Taleb Rifai, and David Scowsill, a former leader of the World Travel & Tourism Council.
Between them have over 60 years of senior leadership experience in the travel industry on the global stage.
The creation of the board was spearheaded by Finn’s global travel practice leader, Debbie Flynn.
Its aim is to bring together senior expertise from their global health, tech, public affairs and sustainability practices to further support current and future destination and travel clients on the road to recovery.

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Rifai was secretary general of the UNWTO, leading the body from 2009 for two consecutive terms ending in 2018. 
He has an extensive background in international and national public service, the public sector and academia and held several ministerial portfolios in the government of Jordan (2000-2004).
Scowsill spent seven years of his impressive career as chief executive of the World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC) and has developed an unparalleled network in both private and public sectors.
Prior to his time leading body, his executive career included leadership positions with Opodo, British Airways, American Airlines and Hilton. 
Peter Finn, founding partner, Finn Partners, commented: “I am delighted to welcome Taleb and David as the founding members of the new Finn Partners Travel Practice Advisory Board.
“Their knowledge, experience and connections in the travel and travel technology arenas will help us to grow this important practice and their insights will provide valuable counsel for current clients as we navigate our way through one of the most challenging periods in our history.”
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Youth travel expert Contiki has launched a new series of active, outdoor and city breaks around the UK for 2021.
The move comes as 71 per cent of its surveyed UK audience say they are making more plans to travel domestically in 2021.
Of these respondents, 38 per cent named Scotland as a destination they planned to visit, and almost 15 per cent wanted to experience the English National Parks such as the Lake and Peak Districts.
Following the sell-out success of two wellness weekends launched in summer 2020 – Surf and Yoga in Devon and Wilderness Glamping in Wales – Contiki has introduced nine new short domestic trips, from city breaks to countryside escapes, aimed specifically at the UK youth market.
Many of the new trips form part of Contiki’s new Detour range, a series of small group, themed and locally hosted immersive short breaks, often with an opportunity to learn a new skill, with each one designed to allow travellers to ‘detour’ beyond the ordinary.

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Given the small group size (minimum eight, average 15), these trips also offer the perfect opportunity for groups of friends to book out an exclusive departure just for themselves after many months of being apart, providing additional earning potential for agents to capitalise.
Donna Jeavons, sales and marketing director for Contiki UK & Europe, said: “When government restrictions lifted somewhat last summer, we dipped our toe in the domestic water with two new short breaks, a surfing and yoga weekend in Devon and a wilderness glamping trip in Wales.
“They were a sell out, so on the back of that success, and given continued uncertainty around international travel options this summer, we’re really excited to bring to market a wider selection of immersive trips allowing young UK travellers to explore their own backyard in the hands of local experts.”
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Nine UK associations with more than 7,000 member companies have combined today to launch the Travel Industry Alliance (TIA).
The new alliance brings together associations representing the travel, tourism and aviation sectors, both inbound and outbound, leisure and business.
Key aims of the Alliance will be to engage with government on issues of the day and allow peer group sharing and discussion on their specific sectors.
The TIA have two initial and immediate objectives in mind which focus on travel safely restarting.
The alliance will seek to collaborate with government departments to:
Encourage the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO) to pull back from issuing advisories due to Covid-19 and become a purely informational source.
Enable travellers to access the UK without any quarantine, at the earliest opportunity, whether through pre-departure testing, test and release, or some other measure that helps restart travel.
Danny Callaghan, co-chairman of the TIA and chief executive of LATA, said: “Trade and consumers need to make informed decisions about where they can go rather than being effectively banned.
“The current FCDO advice is rather moot in most cases anyway because countries with Covid-19 problems will close their borders, making destination availability almost self-regulating.”
The TIA will be surveying their combined 7,000 member companies shortly to gather data which will reinforce their work in the future.
There are also plans for the TIA to join the Future of Aviation and their all-party parliamentary group, chaired by Henry Smith, member of parliament for Crawley, which includes Gatwick Airport.

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Derek Moore, deputy chairman of AITO and also co-chairman of the TIA added: “We know that any sort of quarantine on arrival will render inbound tourism impossible, which also impacts on outbound tourism due to reduced demand for flights, as well as harming the UK’s hospitality and retail sectors.”
Participating associations in the TIA include: AITO (the Specialist Travel Association) ATTA (African Travel and Tourism Association) BAR UK (Board of Airline Representatives) BTA (The Business Travel Association) CLIA (Cruise Lines International Association) CTO (Caribbean Tourism Organisation – UK & Europe Chapter) LATA (Latin American Travel Association) PATA UK & Ireland Chapter (Pacific Asia Travel Association) and UKinbound.
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Black Tomato has announced the appointment of Emma de Vadder as director of PR for the company in the UK.
With 15 years of experience in travel and PR, she brings with her a wealth of experience from previous roles.
Having worked in-house for destination marketing organisations including VisitEngland and NYC & Company, along with some of the top travel PR and marketing agencies in the UK and in the USA, where she was based in New York City for nine years, de Vadder is well placed to take on this key role within the marketing team.
Prior to joining Black Tomato, she held the position as senior PR Director at London-based agency, MMGY Hills Balfour.
“We are delighted to welcome Emma to the Black Tomato family. Her experience and approach firmly align with our values and we are enormously excited to see her lead our UK PR plans in such a crucial year for the travel industry.

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“A natural in creating and sharing award-winning comms, she’ll be at the forefront of sharing the Black Tomato story to audiences, travellers, and publications on this side of the Atlantic,” said Tom Marchant, co-founder of Black Tomato.
Consisting of worldly travel experts who know the globe inside-out and relish the opportunity to share their knowledge with a global, highly discerning clientele, over the yearsBlack Tomato has pioneered some of the most radical journeys and experiences.
“Having long admired the work of Black Tomato as true innovators and disrupters within the luxury travel industry, I’m hugely looking forward to leading the company’s PR plans in the UK,” says de Vadder.
“Since launching in 2005, Black Tomato has grown to become one of the world’s most celebrated luxury travel and lifestyle brands.”
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