On The Beach boss says coming months 'all about regulation change'

Chief executive Simon Cooper told TTG recent months had been characterised by the biggest shake-up of various regulations governing travel for decades.

“Looking ahead, it’s all about regulation change,” he said. “We’re not unduly concerned, but one has to be aware and mindful.

“In our world, we’ve had PSD2 in January, GDPR in May and the Package Travel Regulations in July.”

The new Package Travel Regulations (PTRs), due to come into force on July 1, will, the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) says, ensure OTAs have the same obligations in respect of consumer protections as traditional travel agents.

BEIS says the new regulations will protect an additional 10 million UK package holidays, while consumers will be made more aware of their rights at time of booking.

Abta says around half of all UK holiday travel arrangements, packages and flight-plus holidays, are currently financially protected.

The new PTRs though will classify more holidays as packages, including flight-plus, meaning greater protection for these holidays under the Atol scheme.

Cooper said while the new regulations would more rigorously regulate OTAs, On The Beach had been getting its house in order for some time, long before the industry had sight of the new PTRs.

“I’m not as concerned now as I would have been if this was 10 years ago,” he said. “The changes we have already made to our model have put us in a good position compared to other OTAs.”

There have been concerns around the industry’s readiness to comply with the new PTRs on July 1, with a number of leading industry groups supporting a call for enforcement to be delayed.