Travel agents under pressure from Banks

Travel advice tip: Travel agents and small tour operators, are being put under pressure by banks as they are seen as high risk.

Some banks are threatening to remove merchant services Mastercard visa machines to you and I.

The Association of Independent Tour Operators (AITO) has secured a meeting with the Department for Business Innovation and Skills (BIS) to discuss the banks’ unfair treatment of travel companies.

The meeting follows complaints from operators and travel agents who feel they have been unfairly targeted by the banks.

Some banks have threatened to withdraw merchant services or demanded high value bonds from travel companies, as they are seen as high risk.

Director of cross-market interventions Ben Coates is setting up the meeting for next month, which will be attended by AITO membership manager Peter Burgess and Sunvil director Noel Josephides. Representatives from the Civil Aviation Authority and the Department for Transport have also been invited.

AITO was originally told the government would investigate the issue at a meeting in November last year, but heard nothing until last week, when BIS promised to raise the issue with the banks.

The association has also written to Sir Alan Sugar, the government’s new business champion, to request his help.

Burgess said the meeting was a positive step. He said: “Ben Coates wants to gain a full understanding of the issues. We hope the meeting will have the right results rather then just being a meeting for the sake of it. The hope is that BIS will persuade banks to take a less harsh approach to the travel industry.”