BETTER OFF INSIDE ATAS TENT

DESPITE Barry Mayo’s trenchant criticisms of ATAS, it should have come as no real surprise when the Travelmanagers chairman ultimately decided his growing band of home-based travel agents would be better off joining the scheme ( Traveldaily, 30 Sept). Although some have gleefully characterised this as a “backflip”, the fact is that Mayo has all along insisted: “We want ATAS to succeed” ( travelbulletin, May). While he continues to have deep reservations about the scheme’s lack of a mandatory client protection insurance requirement, Mayo believes it is better to sign up and work for change. The old phrase about being inside the tent peeing out rather than outside peeing in springs to mind. Mayo’s decision is a tribute to his maturity and his ability to argue a case rationally and without rancour – a welcome change from the ego-driven petulance that has often in the past characterised internal travel industry debate and shattered industry unity. Most importantly, Mayo’s decision to sign with ATAS is an emphatic endorsement of the relevance of a robust, voluntary, industryrun accreditation scheme in Australia’s newly deregulated travel agency environment. Take a bow Jayson Westbury and your team at AFTA. The professionalism with which you lobbied state and federal governments, your thorough going consultation with agents around Australia and your painstaking construction of ATAS have been instrumental in taking the travel industry into the 21st Century. In the process you have greatly enhanced AFTA’S reputation as a credible, effective industry body that has deservedly gained the ear of government. A stunning achievement. As we consider the stature that AFTA has now attained and the benefits this brings to its member agents, it is timely to recognise the foundations laid by Westbury’s predecessor Mike Hatton. Hatton was notable among the guests attending last month’s launch of the “new” travelbulletin and, as Westbury pointed out on the night, he continues to have strong views and to express them vigorousy. Let us never forget that AFTA was on its last legs when Hatton took the reins in what was widely seen as a doomed bid to halt the federation’s galloping charge into oblivion. Abandoned by almost all the major chains, and widely considered irrelevant, AFTA was expected to wither away. But with tenacity and hard work Hatton slowly but surely rebuilt AFTA’S fortunes and made possible what it has today been able to achieve. The industry owes him a huge debt of gratitude.