The travel trade appears to have welcomed the new £1 levy which will offer consumer protection instead of the current ATOL bonding scheme. At present the holiday companies must pay a large amount of money for a bond to cover passengers in the event that they go bust. So as of April 2008 the customer will pay the charge of £1 per person to cover the possible mismanagement of their chosen holiday company in case it go bust before they have had their holiday. Nothing has been finalised yet and the April start date could be delayed.
Consumers will still have no protection if they travel with a scheduled airline (low cost carriers as well) If you package up your own holiday yourself you will not be covered because the low cost carrier isn't. It will help the holiday companies cash flow as they will not have to have money tied up in a bond. Pay by credit card whenever you can provided that the charges aren't excessive this will offer financial protection in a lot of cases.
