With the final text of the revised Package Travel Directive due to be adopted by the Competitiveness Council today in Brussels, ABTA welcomes the decision of the EU institutions to exclude business travel from the revised legislation – something ABTA has been working towards since the beginning of the revision process.

The Directive will confirm that its provisions will not apply to travel arrangements purchased on the basis of a ‘general agreement’ between a travel company and a traveller for the arrangement of business travel. This represents a broad based exemption for business travel.

Most Travel Management Companies already operate on the basis of agreements with their corporate clients covering a set period of time. ABTA fully expects such agreements to come within the scope of the ‘general agreements’ envisaged by the Directive.

Stephen D’Alfonso, ABTA’s Head of Public Affairs said: “Since the review of the PTD was first announced, ABTA has worked very hard with the EU institutions to ensure that business travel was removed from the scope of the Directive. We are pleased to see that our arguments have been listened to and that our Members selling business travel will be able to do so without the burden of legislation which has always been primarily designed to protect consumers. We will be working with the UK Government in the months and years ahead to ensure that our Members who are engaged in the arrangement of business travel are able to operate within a sensible regulatory framework as the implementation process begins here in the UK.”