Mobile Travel Agents’ managing director, Roy Merricks has applauded a Consumer Affairs Ministers’ decision to overhaul travel agent regulation across Australia.

Mr Merricks said the decision announced last week was extremely timely given existing legislation dates back to themid-eighties and is representative of a time when the Internet simply was not the factor it is in today’s industry environment. 

“It is vital for our industry that Australian travel agents are competitive with non-Australian travel sellers who are now accessed more easily than ever before via the Internet,” Mr Merricks said.

“In this regard we welcome a likely reduction in compliance costs with, to quote AFTA CEO, Jason Westbury, more than $20 million worth of red tape being lifted.

”This provides us with an excellent start point, it will definitely help, but there is so much more to do.

Referring to credit card chargeback procedures, Mr Merricks said it was all very well to suggest that consumers would be protected via a “continued and important credit card chargeback process”.

But this, he said, only protected those consumers who generally incurred surcharges when paying by credit card and not those who pay by other methods.

Insurance too, he said, will clearly play a major part in the long overdue, new consumer protection scheme,

“But this needs to reach further and protect travel agents from the credit card chargeback process where client funds have been passed on in good faith to suppliers and can't be recovered,” he said.

“Irrespective of what needs to be achieved, the ministerial decision is a most positive step forward and MTA is looking forward to participating in the upcoming industry consultation process with a particular focus on the rapidly expanding home working model in thiscountry.”