Spread the love

Big independent wholesaler Excite Holidays has become the latest travel company to pull out of AFTA’s Travel Accreditation Scheme ATAS.

A notice posted on AFTA’s website listed Global Travel Holdings Pty Ltd, trading as Excite Holidays, among “Cancelled ATAS Participants”. The date was given as 10 December 2018 and the stated reason was “Voluntary Withdrew”.

A number of other companies, some of them major, have left ATAS this year. Luxury Escapes, for instance, departed in June.

Helen Wong’s Tours left in October, but in that case the departure was not listed as voluntary withdrawal but as “failure to renew as required under s2.5(n) of the ATAS Charter”, a provision which deals with failing to renew in time.http://www.germany.travel/en/index.html

Whether Helen Wong’s Tours applies to rejoin ATAS, or decides to withdraw from the scheme permanently, remains to be seen.

Some travel companies point out that two ATAS participants, Venture Far and Inca Tours, collapsed this year leaving customers stranded – despite their ATAS accreditation.

According to the ATAS website, travel companies to have voluntarily withdrawn from ATAS so far this year (not counting those who have left for other reasons, or those listed as having withdrawn because they have closed) include:

  • Heritage World Travel (19 November)
  • Selfmade Travel (15 November)
  • Meridian Travel Corporate (23 October)
  • R2R Travel Pty Ltd (24 September)
  • Go Travel Group (24 September)
  • Tamborine Travel (10 September)
  • Travel Jet Centre (25 September)
  • AEA Australian Education Alliance (27 August)
  • Beyondz Travel (7 August)
  • Braga Travel (2 August)
  • Rojan Travel (23 July)
  • Oz Travel Group (20 July)
  • Ultimate Travel Destinations (18 July)
  • Wynyard Travel (13 July, two days after being suspended from ATAS)
  • Luxury Escapes (30 June)
  • McGuire Travel Services t/a Travel Mac (25 June)
  • Airlink Services Group (25 June)
  • Kensington Travel (11 May)

Written by Peter Needham