When it comes to the current world of travel cancellations, why is a credit not enough? Chair of The Council of Australian Tour Operators (CATO), Dennis Bunnik appeared on Channel Seven’s Weekend Sunrise show to shed some measured light on the complex situation from an industry perspective.
Hosted by Monique Wright, the live segment ran on Sunday morning and featured Dennis Bunnik dialling from Adelaide and Adam Glazer from Melbourne, who is the consumer advocate and creator of the Facebook page, Travel Industry Issues – The Need for Change which has just under 4,000 members.
With more than 12 million people currently in lockdown in Sydney and Melbourne, travel has again been rocked by yet another slew of cancellations and another unwelcome dip in consumer confidence.
Consumer advocates are now pushing for laws to make it easier for travellers to obtain refunds when their plans are cancelled because of COVID-induced lockdowns and restrictions.
Adam was firstly asked in the segment around his push for the federal government to change the law so that consumers are entitled to a refund or a trip if it’s cancelled. So no voucher, no credit, just a full refund in cash.
“Why is a credit not enough? Asked host Monique.
“As it stands, customers are bound by the terms and conditions of their suppliers, and that is pretty much it. We are calling on the government to step up and protect Australian consumers by including a provision in the Australian consumer law for the right to a refund for cancellations occurring outside of human control,” Said Adam.
“In what other situation do you pre-pay for something, you don’t receive it, and you don’t get your money back? I’ve been dealing with a lot of really elderly people, a lot of ill people who may never get the chance to actually travel again. And in those situations, a credit is going to be a complete waste.” He continued.
Dennis was asked to talk to the other side of the coin with regard to the industry being decimated by COVID. What would a law like this do to it?
“We’re all devastated that we’re again in lockdown, holidays and weddings are being cancelled, and families are being kept apart. We need to find the right balance throughout this process. The travel industry is very, very complex because of the fact that everybody’s holiday is unique.
“So there is no one simple solution. We would like to see far better outcomes. And as an industry, we’ve been working towards getting these working terms and conditions uniformed, with greater levels of transparency, so that there is consumer confidence and there is consumer protection in place,” Said Dennis.
Raising consumer confidence as the big issue, host Monique then went on to share her personal experience saying she had booked several holidays that she wasn’t able to take and had only received credits for them. Now that situations have changed, being able to take them she said was “going to be very difficult.”
“Is this where the government then needs to step in to get consumer confidence back up and underwrite some of that guarantee so that people are still booking? Because the chances are you are going to be able to take the trip. Is that what you’re calling for then, Dennis?” She asked.
“It’s a two-step process,” Said Dennis.
“First, we need the travel industry to survive so that people are able to travel safely once borders reopen, and be able to use their travel credits. And that is through proper support and a clear roadmap and a clear plan around domestic borders and international borders. And secondly, we’re working on solutions at the moment around insurance, working with insurance companies to create insolvency protection, to create protections for all Australians and for the industry.
“And yes, government support in establishing those systems and that scheme would be great. But I don’t think that government-mandated legislation will actually work. And the reason for that is that travel is complicated because people’s holidays are different. So when you’re talking about a three-night visit to Melbourne in a city centre hotel, that’s easy.
“At the other end of the scale, we’ve got our members who’ve been creating fantastic unique experiences, multi-day tours in remote parts of Australia. That doesn’t just happen. Just like a 38-day tour of South America doesn’t just happen. It takes highly skilled staff, many months, sometimes years, of work, prepayment of a whole road of arrangements. And cancelling those things at the last minute due to a lockdown, a credit is the only viable option,” He said.
CATO has recently announced plans to launch its own accreditation scheme and consumer protection program.
Speaking at the time of the announcement, Brett Jardine, Managing Director, CATO, said, “Votes received were 100% supportive of the motion to change and evolve under a structure that better reflects CATO’s status as a national body and enable it to move forward with progressive initiatives. As part of these changes, CATO will develop an external independent accreditation scheme, fit-for-purpose, for the land supply sector.
“CATO members were also updated on the status of investigations into the development of exclusive insurance products, aimed at developing greater agent support and consumer confidence when booking travel products with CATO members,” Brett said.
Clearly, there is still a massive amount of work to do on the topic of industry reform and regaining consumer confidence, with the recent CHOICE Travel Cancellation Survey only highlighting further the need for change across the entire sector.
At the very least, it’s positive to see CATO tackling the issue head-on and being brave enough to step up and engage in a dialogue on live TV.
