With 2.5 million young adults (18-24) planning or considering a winter holiday this year¹, music festivals on the slopes are a much-anticipated attraction. As a result, ABTA is running a new digital campaign providing advice for young people to help them have a safer winter festival experience.

ABTA - The Travel Association has teamed up with the Foreign & Commonwealth Office (FCO) to give practical safety tips to those aged between 18 and 24, as research conducted by ABTA reveals that this is the most likely demographic to travel with friends. The advice covers different areas, including the importance of preventing slips, trips and falls and looking out for friends in a group. 

The campaign will run via social media and through ABTA’s website, where winter music festivals safety tips are featured in the Winter Sports safety page. ABTA Members can refer their customers to the safety tips provided on the website or provide then with safety z-cards produced by the association.

Susan Deer, ABTA’s Director of Industry Relations, said, “Most winter music festivals take place between February and April on the slopes of France, Austria and Switzerland, with popular bands attracting a young audience. Whilst some may be seasoned festivalgoers, for others this could be the first time they travel with friends, and it is important to remind them of simple actions that will make their time safer.”

ABTA’s campaign aligns with the FCO’s Stick With Your Mates campaign on youth safety, created after research showed that being alone or being separated from your friends is a factor in some serious, or even fatal, incidents overseas.

Jennifer Anderson, Director of Consular services, commented, “The winter travel season provides an opportunity to enjoy the sounds, the sights and the slopes in a range of exciting destinations. Most British people venturing to mountain resorts have a great time. But each year we are asked to provide support to people who have got into difficulty either through accident or injury or financially. Simple actions like sticking with your friends when skiing, out socialising or at festivals, making sure you have winter sports insurance, and reading our Ski-Safe guide ahead of your trip, can make all the difference when it comes to avoiding trouble.”

ABTA is hosting a seminar on Youth Travel on 9 June 2020, where the trends and holiday habits of young holidaymakers will be discussed further. For more information visit abta.com/abtaevents or email events@abta.co.uk.

Ends

For further information, contact:
Natasha Sá Osório, Senior Media Relations Executive, tel.: 020 3117 0531 or press@abta.co.uk
Out of Hours: contact the duty press officer 020 3693 0183
Web: www.abta.com
Twitter: @ABTAtravel
#ABTAat70

Notes to editors
¹Consumer research was conducted by The Nursery Research and Planning (formerly Arkenford, specialists in leisure and tourism research) https://www.the-nursery.net. The ABTA Consumer Trends survey generated responses from a nationally representative sample of 2,043 consumers using an online research methodology and related to holiday booking habits in the 12 months to July 2019. Fieldwork was conducted in July 2019.

About ABTA
ABTA has been a trusted travel brand for 70 years. Our purpose is to help our Members to grow their businesses successfully and sustainably, and to help their customers travel with confidence. 

The ABTA brand stands for support, protection and expertise. This means consumers have confidence in ABTA and a strong trust in ABTA Members. These qualities are core to us as they ensure that holidaymakers remain confident in the holiday products that they buy from our Members. 

We help our Members and their customers navigate through today's changing travel landscape by raising standards in the industry; offering schemes of financial protection; providing an independent complaints resolution service should something go wrong; giving guidance on issues from sustainability to health and safety and by presenting a united voice to government to ensure the industry and the public get a fair deal.

ABTA has more than 4,300 travel brands in Membership, providing a wide range of leisure and business travel services, with a combined annual UK turnover of £39 billion. For more details about what we do, what being an ABTA Member means and how we help the British public travel with confidence visit www.abta.com.