The Latin American Travel Association (Lata) is petitioning the government to relax some aspects of the Package Travel Regulations (PTRs) to help travel companies "survive" the coronavirus crisis.
More than 200 people have so far backed Lata’s plea, which echoes Abta’s new Save Future Travel campaign, launched on Tuesday (7 April).
The campaign is calling on travel professionals and supporters of the industry to contact their MPs and demand respite for the travel sector from the impacts of Covid-19.
Lata is seeking three key temporary amendments to the PTRs: removal of the 14-day limit for refund payments; the allowance refund credits as an alternative to cash refunds to ease cash flow, with all financial protections carried forward; and stripping travel companies of the responsibility for refunds where costs are not covered by suppliers such as hotels or airlines.
Parliament UK petitions require the government to provide an official respond if they achieve more than 10,000 signatures.
Danny Callaghan, Lata general manager, said: “The travel industry is doing everything it can to help customers but these Package Travel Regulations were not intended for mass holiday cancelations caused by a global pandemic.
"The scale of this crisis on our industry is unimaginable and government needs to act now to help protect thousands of jobs.
"We would urge our travel industry colleagues to get behind this petition which forces the government to respond if enough signatures are reached.”
The petition can be viewed and signed here. You can find out more about Save Future Travel here and how to get involved.