Exclusive
Biba took its campaign to have travel agents and tour operators selling insurance regulated to the Treasury today.
The trade association commiss-ioned its widest independent public consultation to date on the issue and found the public overwhelmingly in favour of full regulation of travel agents.
Biba's letter to the Treasury, seen exclusively by Insurance Times, states that of the 500 respondents to its survey 97% favoured full regulation.
In contrast, the Association of British Travel Agents (Abta) in its response to the Treasury stated that of the 101 people who responded to its survey, 89.5% felt the cover they had bought from a travel agent was sufficient. However, Abta failed to state how many of those respondents had actually made a claim against their travel policy.
Biba said its research had unearthed widespread evidence of consumer detriment in the sector, a claim vehemently denied by Abta.
Eric Galbraith, chief executive of Biba writes: "We believe that consumer have not receive a sufficiently huge standard of advice, cover or indeed value when purchasing policies through an unregulated travel agent or tour operator."
Abta, which represents 1,600 travel agents including retail giants My Travel and First Choice, refutes the accusation. Since January 2004 it has investigated 225 members for breaching its code for selling insurance with 17 charges and fines being issued.
This, it said, was a minor proportion of the five million policies its members sold annually.
Biba hit back at the trade body and cited evidence from consumer rights group Which? and Abta's watchdog, Holiday Travel Watch, which both found significant evidence of abuses in the sector.
This week, AXA and Norwich Union called for full regulation of the sector. Thomas Cook, meanwhile, applied to become an appointed representative of AXA in a bid to move into the financial services market.
In contrast, the Association of British Travel Agents (Abta) in its response to the Treasury stated that of the 101 people who responded to its survey, 89.5% felt the cover they had bought from a travel agent was sufficient.
However, Abta did not state how many of those respondents had actually made a claim against their travel policy.
Biba said its research had unearthed widespread evidence of consumer detriment in the sector, a claim vehemently denied by Abta.
Eric Galbraith, chief executive of Biba, writes: "We believe that consumer have not received a sufficient standard of advice, cover or indeed value when purchasing policies through an unregulated travel agent or tour operator."
Abta, which represents 1,600 travel agents including retail giants My Travel and First Choice, refutes the accusation.
Since January 2004 it has investigated 225 members for breaching its code for selling insurance, leading to 17 charges and fines being issued.
This, it said, was a minor proportion of the five million policies its members sold annually.
Biba hit back at the trade body and cited evidence from consumer rights group Which? and Abta's watchdog, Holiday Travel Watch, which both found significant evidence of abuses in the sector.
This week, AXA and Norwich Union called for full regulation of the sector.
Thomas Cook, meanwhile, applied to become an appointed representative of AXA in a bid to move into the financial services market.
