The fund, which is used to refund and repatriate consumers where bonds are insufficient following a collapse, contains £199 million, but has no fall-back insurance as it did pre-pandemic.
The latest figures were revealed in the ATT’s annual report for the year to 31 March 2024, which was published on Thursday (25 July). In the year to 31 March 2019, prior to Cook’s collapse in October that year, the fund contained around £221 million.
The pot is topped up by Atol Protection Contributions of £2.50 per passenger. This raised £75.4 million from 30.1 million passengers, compared with £65.8 million from 26.6 million passengers the previous year. Interest amounted to almost £7 million, a leap from less than £1 million last year.
Six Atol failures – two fewer than the previous year – mean an expected call on the trust of almost £4 million, compared with £5.3 million previously.
A small number of passengers required repatriation, while just over 2,000 customers were due refunds.
The vast majority of funds were spent following the collapse of Luxtripper in October 2023, which was licensed for 4,437 passengers. This prompted refunds costing £4.1 million and saw 75 passengers repatriated.
Liquidation dividends totalling £370,000 were received following the collapses of Bird Holidays, Travel Day, World Sky Travel and others.
The CAA gave an upbeat account of the current market: “Consumer confidence to travel has continued to remain strong and numerous consumer surveys and spending data reveal a positive outlook for travel,” it said.
“Within the package holiday market, Atol-protected bookings continued to grow throughout 2023/24 and have now exceeded pre-pandemic levels.”
It added that as of March 2024, forward bookings were up by 12% compared with 2019 and by 11% compared with 2023, with price increases driving up revenues by nearly a third (32%) compared with 2019 and by 15% compared with 2023.
However, the report warned: “Maintenance of pricing and profit margins through the summer period will be important to the travel market, given the planned capacity increases this year."
