More protection for DIY holiday fans

Over the years an increasing number of people have started to book their own DIY holidays rather than opt for a pre-bundled package deal with a travel agent, and with the expansion of the Internet, with all of the choices on offer with regards to flights, hotels, and other extras, more and more people have started to book their holidays in this way.

Booking your own DIY holiday can often work out cheaper than a package deal and means that you can tailor your holiday to suit your needs.

However, there was some concern amongst many consumers that they may not get as much protection as those booking package holidays in the event that something goes wrong, and this may in part have put people off.

There has been some good news for DIY holiday fans recently, however, with the Association of British Travel Agents stating that it will be offering more protection to holidaymakers that make DIY bookings rather than taking package deals.

Holiday industry professionals are now keen to learn more about this increased protection, and one travel industry specialist said: ‘We welcome the recent announcement from ABTA which seems to be in the spirit of protecting every single traveller, however, we would now like to see the details of the proposal. There is currently a great deal of confusion around the issue of travel protection, if the scheme is followed through to protect all it could provide a much needed confidence boost for consumers which would in turn benefit the whole travel industry.’

At present there is no protection for those that book their flights and accommodation separately in the way that there is for those that book package deals from ATOL travel agents, but this could all change under the new measures from ABTA.