There can be little denying this year will present more new legislative fireworks than the sector has faced in a long time. As Abta chief executive Mark Tanzer tells me this week, “the pressure is going to be on”.
And yet, for all the regulatory hurdles of 2018 there are many reasons to be cheerful. False sickness claims seem to be on the wane and Tanzer is hopeful the government could introduce legislation this year to deter false claimants, though he insists Abta will keep up its campaigning in the meantime.
As we explore in our preview of the year the government is reportedly on track to publish proposals for airport expansion in the “first half of 2018”, so we could finally see Heathrow being given approval for a third runway. And providing there are no major terror incidents in Tunisia or Turkey, this summer could see an easing of pressure on the western Med, meaning a rebalancing of prices.
As ever, it is the peaks period which for many will set the tone for the rest of the year. And Saturday’s front page of The Times, which carried the headline “Travel firms dupe buyers with bogus cheap deals”, following a Which? report, was, as Holidaysplease’s Richard Dixon put it, “unfortunate timing”. But he is confident it won’t put customers off booking, and as TTG went to press, Abta had yet to receive a single consumer complaint following the publication of the report.
Agents have reported slightly slower post-Christmas sales, but the grey and rainy start to the first working week of 2018 on Tuesday will likely have encouraged many to begin daydreaming about sunnier climes. There might be fireworks ahead, but there also are a lot of positives too. Here’s to a happy and prosperous New Year from all at TTG Media.
