Mike and Alisha are the latest volunteers to share their skills at The Institute of Travel and Tourism of The Gambia - through our employee volunteer programme with ABTA - here is their story in pictures - thanks Mike and Alisha and ABTA for this
9. Future
What you need;
• Be open minded
• Be flexible and relaxed
• Try new things
• Get out of the hotel
• Know you are not right – you just have a
different point of view to them
• You are there to learn not just teach
• A sense of adventure and travel experience
9
Editor's Notes
In the UK, there is a system of financial protection in place to protect Consumers monies when paying for holidays. This system has recently changed to increase the level of protection available to Consumers.ABTA uses Bonds to provide this. A Bond is a guarantee from a financial institution (Bank or Insurance Company) to pay a fixed amount on demand, if the Member ceases to trade. It is set at an amount that will normally be sufficient to pay the cost of a failure. Any shortfall is met by the ABTA Insurance PCC Limited, an insurance company owned by ABTA. Each Member pays a premium each year and the company holds reserves of c. £18 million to meet claims.Some interesting Facts about ABTA Bonds. We have 1,800 Bonds which is more than the amount of members because some members are both Tour Operators and Travel Agents. Total value of Bonds is c. £500,000,000 and the ABTA scheme of financial protection protects both consumers and other ABTA Members.In the last five years we have had more than 30,000 claims and we paid out more than £19 million pounds, all of which is ultimately designed to ensure that consumers receive the arrangements booked or their money back.The Bonds of retail Members are generally used to pay the ABTA principals, so that they are able to fulfil the holidays and in order to avoid a situation where, the absence of the ABTA scheme, each tour operator seeks individual bonds, guarantees or other security. We believe that would not be in the interest of retail agents. Tour Operators are bonded by ABTA as a BIS Approved Body for the purposes of the Package Travel Regulations. This allows retail agents to sell ABTA Tour operators with confidence, knowing that their customers are protected, both financially and by the Code of Conduct.