UK travel agents are being warned they could be “saddled” with the obligations of overseas travel organisers come 1 January if the operators do not comply with UK regulations.
Speaking at TTG’s Agenda 2021 conference, Fox Williams travel partner Rhys Griffiths explained that while currently UK travel agents selling package holidays of organisers based outside of the UK don’t need to worry about most of the obligations under the Package Travel Regulations (because those obligations sit with the organiser), there is a risk with the end of the Brexit transition period.
The status quo will remain, but the risk from 1 January is that unless those EU or rest of the world-based organisers have made arrangements to comply with the UK Package Travel Regulations and have arranged UK insolvency protection – so have obtained an Atol or one of the three other alternatives for non-flight packages – then the UK travel agent gets “saddled with the obligations and responsibilities of the organiser”.
This article was first published in TTG on 7 December 2020. Please click here to read the full article.
