§ 6. Mr. Mark Lazarowicz (Edinburgh, North and Leith) (Lab)What steps she is taking to prohibit unfair trading practices in the travel industry. [182683]
§ The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Trade and Industry (Mr. Gerry Sutcliffe)The Government continue to do their utmost to promote the competitiveness and success of all businesses in the UK travel industry, while ensuring an appropriate level of protection for consumers and business against those who would trade unfairly.
§ Mr. LazarowiczOsprey Holidays, a travel company based in my constituency, has to pay a large sum of money as a bond every year to ensure that customers who book a package holiday with them are properly protected for flights and accommodation, whereas some of its online competitors, which offer accommodation as an add-on through their websites, do not have to provide a similar level of protection for their customers. Will my hon. Friend look into that practice, which deprives customers of adequate consumer protection and puts companies such as the one in my constituency at a competitive disadvantage?
§ Mr. SutcliffeI am grateful that my hon. Friend has raised that point, which is a concern for the industry and which was raised with me at a meeting in March. I am talking to colleagues in the Department for Transport who are considering the response to the issue of bonded travel by the Civil Aviation Authority. I hope that we will have a response for my hon. Friend in the autumn.
§ Miss Anne McIntosh (Vale of York) (Con)I know that the Department for Transport is considering the ATOL aspect and it is not in the Minister's remit, but is he aware that the European package directive is being revisited by the Commission? Would that not be a better mechanism to use to ensure that EU-wide cover is provided for both accommodation and flights if an airline goes bust?
§ Mr. SutcliffeI agree with the hon. Lady that this is an issue that needs to be addressed because of the potential damage to consumers. If that is an appropriate route, we will consider it in conjunction with the discussions with the Department for Transport.
§ Malcolm Bruce (Gordon) (LD)Will the Minister tell the House how he is getting on in his consultations with the travel industry about excessive premiums charged during school holidays? In some cases, they are 50 per cent. to 100 per cent., and out of all proportion to the costs incurred by the operators. Will he also investigate the activities of holiday clubs that use high-pressure selling techniques to obtain thousands of pounds from people for activities which, if covered by the timeshare rule, would allow a cooling-off period? Indeed, under that rule, certain practices would be debarred. Does he agree that the law should be extended to include holiday clubs?
§ Mr. SutcliffeIt was important in discussions with the travel industry to look into its and our concerns, one of which is the price of holidays during the school holiday period. I am happy to say that the industry indicated that it would consider what could be done. Loyalty arrangements have been developed with some travel agents, giving people a reduction in price, and that is the sort of thing we want to see. We are looking at many of the issues relating to holiday clubs and I hope to be able to report to the House in the autumn about the issues Members have raised.