As a travel agent, have you ever wondered about your responsibilities when something goes wrong for a customer on holiday? Or for that matter, one of your staff members on an educational, fam trip or recce?

Irrespective of your legal responsibilities, what would you need to do to look after whoever was involved and, of lesser importance, how would you protect your reputation?

Envisioning how you would react to an incident, how you might potentially have prevented it, and the consequences of being unable to rationalise being in the situation were among the key themes at a recent annual risk, safety and crisis management seminar hosted by Sanderson Phillips in partnership with TTG.

So, what is a travel agent’s role in all this, bearing in mind they vary from small businesses operating independently to larger ones working for a group, and either acting as an agent or the principal?

Irrespective of the set-up, travel agents have a duty of care to their customers and staff. As risk and crisis management specialists, we counsel our travel clients to recommend all customers read the Foreign Office travel advice before booking, and sign up to receive updates on their destination.

This allows them to be informed of the potential risks associated with their destination – no place can be classified as entirely safe, but rather as having varying levels of safety.

The next step is to direct customers to organisations such as TravelHealthPro, which provide clear health advice on countries worldwide.

There should be strong recommendations that customers have insurance covering all the activities they plan on taking. Often, depending on the policy, certain excursions are exempt – quad biking, for example.

Please bear this in mind too when planning staff fam trips to ensure they are covered. In addition, the Safer Tourism Foundation is an excellent resource for both customers and travel companies, and was established to save lives and reduce preventable harm for UK travellers.

If you’re a travel agent booking through a tour operator, it’s worth asking what their approach is to safety management and their support if things go wrong. Make sure you have out-of-hours emergency numbers in case of an incident.

Perhaps you will be creating a package yourself for your customers and do not have the safety net of a tour operator. The responsibility would fall on you.

What due diligence do you undertake? How would you handle a major incident, such as a traffic accident with fatalities? Or an airport closure, as we recently experienced with Heathrow?

Do you have a plan for these eventualities? Or for earthquakes or wildfires? Another theme of the seminar was the increased frequency and intensity of floods and fires due to the climate emergency. How would you explain your approach to managing risk for your clients? 

Travel agents aim to give great service and support to customers – and for the vast majority of people, there is a positive outcome (and hopefully a rebooking).

But have you considered how to deal with the consequences when that’s not the case, and when the spotlight is on you and your reputation?

John Telfer is a consultant for risk, safety and crisis management experts Sanderson Phillips.