AITO: Voucher incentives to be assessed by ABTA
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ABTA’s legal team is looking into voucher travel agent incentive schemes in relation to the Bribery Act, it has emerged.
Responding to a panel discussion at AITO Agents’ domestic conference this weekend, Noel Josephides, managing director of Sunvil and ABTA board member said the association is assessing the use of vouchers such as Love2Shop by tour operators to help boost sales through travel agents.
“This came up in the last board meeting and is a very serious issue if tour operators are being diverted because the agent gets vouchers,” said Josephides. “It has been high up [on our agenda] and while it is marginal it is a growing trend.”
It came as Brendan Maguire, managing director at If Only… called for voucher incentives to be banned altogether. Although the tour operator does occasionally give away vouchers through incentives, Maguire said it had been to keep within the current trend and would prefer not to.
“We feel we are being dragged into the gutter by tour operators who are offering up to £500 in vouchers to agents and an agent told us If Only… did not get a booking because of an incentive although we were £2,000 cheaper,” Maguire said. “Objectivity has gone out of the window and the tax authorities could come onto agents as it is like a salary increase.”
Nigel Armitage from Millington Travel agreed that in the current economic climate incentives were a way to provide a boost to travel consultants, but would consider banning them if economic conditions were to improve.
Gemma Antrobus from Haslemere Travel said the agency has not accepted vouchers for years and has worked in its favour when negotiating rates. “Voucher incentives are not going away but some agents could become unstuck,” she warned. “Agents and tour operators should work together to provide a holiday that is best for the client first not the agent.”
In the same discussion ABTA was accused of “abandoning” its smaller members after claims rose that HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) was purposefully targeting smaller agencies to collect VAT but not larger firms.
“We were told that HMRC was targeting smaller agents because we do not have the financial clout to take them to court,” explained Eddie Kyle from Kyle Travel Services. “We felt let down by ABTA as they could have funded an agent to take HMRC to court as an example case and could have won”.
Josephides said the association will look into the claim.