CIVIL AVIATION AUTHORITY staff will this spring organise a series of ATOL open-days at Birmingham, Manchester and Newcastle for travel agents to find out more about the licensing criteria and the trading options. This follows the publication of new consumer protection guidelines for travel agents who sell ”tailor-made” or ”dynamic packages”. The European Package Travel Regulations (PTR) has meant a change in UK law and with it travel agents responsibility. Consumers are more and more asking their travel agents to put together specialised holiday packages rather than selling packages backed by licensed tour operators. Many of these are not necessarily protected by an ATOL to comply with the PTR. The seminars are a serious attempt to ensure that travel agents, both big and small, know of their responsibilities.
http://www.atol.org.uk