News

ABTA has denied being forced into an embarrassing U-turn over its insurance training scheme despite yielding to demands for lower fees.

Reduced costs and the provision for alternative providers to TTC Training were rubber stamped this week. But chief executive Ian Reynolds insisted: “This is not a climb-down”.

The new terms were agreed following a series of showdown talks between ABTA and the large operators. The big four companies faced a potential total bill of £400,000 for all staff to achieve the mandatory level-one qualification.

“We can’t go ahead with a scheme like this unless all the major players are on board first. It became clear they weren’t happy,” said Reynolds.

The new TTC fees mean operators with 5,000-plus members can pay £17 per head if exams are held on their own premises and £15 if they provide their own training materials and invigilator.

Reynolds said the principle had always been to pass on savings. The highest fee remains £25 per head for companies with fewer than 1,000 staff, £23 for those with 1,000-4,999 staff and £20 for firms with more than 5,000 employees.

“The prices are still the same, all we’re doing is passing on savings,” said Reynolds. “We’ve taken out some elements that members didn’t require.”

But retailers have not confirmed they will stick with TTC. Both MyTravel and Thomas Cook said getting low-priced exams was their priority, while TUI  said it was “happy with progress”. Thomas Cook director of trade relations Ian Derbyshire said: “We’ll look at all the options that meet ABTA’s criteria and evaluate which is the most cost-effective.” Thomas Cook is meeting the Institute of Travel and Tourism next week to discuss joint training programmes.

Midconsort chief executive Charles Eftichiou said the consortium had already launched its own training scheme and plans were underway to develop its own exam.

The deadline for qualification has been postponed from January 2005 to September 2005 to allow other companies to set up training programmes. 

Alternate providers will have to be accredited by vocational training companies such as City and Guilds or Edexcel and be approved by ABTA.