AFTA UPDATE

I HAD the opportunity to speak with the members of the ATAC group at the W hotel in

Brisbane over the weekend during their Future Focus Conference and it is exciting to get a feel of the growth and success for both the group and the members themselves.

Congratulations to all involved in executing yet another excellent travel conference for the benefit of all involved and no doubt the planning for the year ahead will pay off.

As would be expected, the challenges that the industry faces off the back of the Tempo/ Bentours collapse were felt within the ATAC group also.

I believe however that the conversation is moving more to ways and concepts as to how to prepare travel agents for when this problem happens again and sadly it will, rather than a dwelling on times past.

AFTA is looking towards a future state for how to best frame protections that works for all agency sizes from small to large, corporate or leisure, and will continue to engage across the industry as this quest begins.

I do note that many ATAS-accredited agencies will get the benefit of being a part of the ACS scheme as the matter starts to settle and claims commence.

In last week‘s Travel Daily column, I mentioned the Rugby World Cup taking place in Japan and gave reference to the devastating and tragic typhoon that hit the country.

On the matter of the rugby, I feel perhaps without Australia in the race, I should cease my future coverage.

A disappointing result for the Wallabies, but an excellent effort on many of the pool games nevertheless.

On the matter of the typhoon, Japan is clearly mourning great loss at a time when in fact the country should be looking to a new era with the ascension of Emperor Naruhito, the Crown Prince and son of Emperor Akihito who sought legal permission to step down as Emperor, thereby abdicating the throne.

A historic event in Japanese history as this is the first monarch to do this in more than 200 years.

Emperor Naruhito becomes the 126th Emperor of Japan, which given the prior comment demonstrates how deep in history Japan actually is.

For the travel industry I note that Smartraveller advisory for Japan remains at the normal low level and from the various available reports, things appear to be back to normal as best as they can be in the wake of the typhoon.