MTA warns against ATAS "misapprehension"

MTA warns against ATAS "misapprehension"
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Mobile Travel Agents has spoken out in defence of ATAS insisting the scheme’s critics are in the minority, as the home-based network became a “fully fledged” member of the scheme.

The successful application makes MTA the first national and exclusively home-based network to be accredited under the scheme, according to co-managing director Roy Merricks.

While he expressed “delight” at the accreditation, he outlined his concerns over the industry’s “misapprehension” of the scheme and advised against comparing it with the Travel Compensation Fund (TCF) that it will replace on July 1.

“ATAS is an accreditation scheme while the TCF was a compensation scheme,” he said. 

 “While a solvency test is part of the criteria, I don’t believe there has ever been any suggestion that ATAS will compensate clients if a travel agency becomes insolvent.

“As was stated by the state ministers during the long process to this point, ATAS membership and insurance matters should be commercial decisions for individual businesses.”

Merricks warned of the dangers of confusion as the end of the Travel Compensation Fund approaches, specifically implicating ATAS’ “detractors” who have criticised the scheme's lack of mandatory insolvency insurance.

“However, and thankfully, these remain a minority, albeit a vocal one,” he said.

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