Travel Bonding - Answers

Why do travel companies need to be bonded?

The Package Travel Regulations were created following a European Directive (90/314/EEC), which answered numerous complaints throughout Europe and the world, of the lack of redress a consumer had in a Package Holiday contract.

The Directive was adopted by the UK in the form of the regulations on the 31st December 1992 and they have had considerable impact on the rights of consumers in this country.

The Regulations set out how the parties to the contract may be identified and goes onto deal with what information should be provided to the customer at the beginning of the contract.

The following are summaries of the regulations.
Within Regulation 2 a Package means a pre-arranged combination of at least two components. When they are sold or offered for sale they must be done so at an all-inclusive price, and when the contract is for more than 24 hours or has overnight accommodation, has either.

Transport;
Accommodation;
A tourist service not ancillary to transport or accommodation and accounting for a significant proportion of the package

Regulation 2 goes onto deal with the new issue of DIY packaging, in other words booking your holiday over the Internet. If you book a holiday in this way, is it still a package holiday and will it still attract the consumer protection of the regulations?

The Regulations states.
(i) the submission of separate accounts for different components shall not cause the arrangements to be other than a package;
(ii) the fact that a combination is arranged at the request of the consumer and in accordance with his specific instructions (whether modified or not) shall not of itself cause it to be treated as other than pre-arranged

The current consensus is that such holidays are Package Holidays and until the matter is challenged in court that interpretation stands.

In recent years Pure Vacations has found that more and more operators are competing in specialist travel markets that have little or no bonding, and this particular applies to the surf travel market where a whole host of companies with flashy websites and big promises have shot up, all of them operating outside of the travel regulations of 1992. The consumer is constantly at risk from these companies and what amazes us as a company is that some media organisations promote these companies totally oblivious of the fact that they are illegal operators.

The travel regulations are in place to protect consumers from the terrible scenes you can see on this blog, not just the financial protection it offers but also the professionalism of ensuring that your safety, and protection is always secure.

If you have booked or planned to book with Pure Vacations you do so knowing we abide by the travel regulations and also hold an ATOL and IATA licence for all air travel. If you however do book elsewhere because you simply could not find what you wanted with Pure Vacations which is perfectly understandable please, please do take care to ensure that your operator is fully protected, it takes only a few minutes to ask the questions, and judge for yourself the answers, but it can take you all year to recover from a bad vacation.

PURE VACATIONS IS TRAVEL BONDED FOR YOUR PROTECTION.