ABTA supports business travel Members to get ready for Brexit

New research¹, released ahead of the Business Travel Show (20-22 February), finds over four in five (82%) managers say that membership of ABTA is important or very important when they select a travel management company (TMC). 

According to the research, managers at companies with an annual turnover of £50-99.99 million especially value ABTA membership, with over nine in ten (93%) stating that membership was very important or important when selecting a TMC. Similarly, 95% of companies with 50-99 employees took the same view.  

Using a TMC that is a Member of ABTA is also particularly important for business owners (95%).  
Booking business travel through an ABTA Member allows corporate managers to book with confidence, knowing that their travel provider has passed ABTA’s financial fitness tests, including minimum capital requirements, balance sheet net asset strength and financial security requirements (where applicable) and that it follows ABTA’s Code of Conduct. 

ABTA Members also benefit from a wide range of support services including free legal advice and detailed guidance notes. ABTA has been providing its business Members with advice and support to help them plan for Brexit, including ABTA’s contingency planning guidance on a no-deal Brexit and advice to share with clients travelling after 29 March 2019, as well as lobbying on behalf of the industry. ABTA’s guidance on Brexit is available in the MemberZone – abta.com/member-zone 

ABTA Members also have access to its operational crisis support and 24/7 operational bulletins about incidents and travel news, enabling them to better support their customers in the UK and overseas should an incident or issue occur.

Victoria Bacon, Director of Brand and Business Development at ABTA – The Travel Association said:  

“This latest research shows that the vast majority of managers regard ABTA membership as important or very important when choosing a TMC. 

“As well as the strong association with ABTA’s brand, TMCs benefit from a wide range of ABTA’s services and expertise - including our insight and expertise around Brexit preparedness. With just weeks to go before the UK is due to leave the EU, we are supporting all of our Members to help them be ready for any eventuality. We also continue to lobby the EU and UK Government to urge a sensible, pragmatic, solution which delivers for the industry, business travellers and holidaymakers.” 

ABTA is the UK’s most trusted travel scheme and has been voted a Business Superbrand for the last twelve years. 38 of the 50 largest TMCs are ABTA Members and a further 203 ABTA Members count business travel as their principal business.  

ABTA staff will be at the Business Travel Show on stand B2304 to meet current and prospective ABTA Members as well as corporate travel managers to discuss the benefits of ABTA membership.  
 
For further information, contact:
ABTA press office – 020 3117 0596 or press@abta.co.uk 
Sean Tipton, Media Relations Manager, tel: 020 3117 0513  

Web: www.abta.com
Twitter: @ABTAMembers

Notes to editors
¹The research was conducted by Censuswide, with 502 Managers at companies where people travel for business, with a minimum of 250 business decision makers between 01.02.2019 - 04.02.2019. Censuswide abide by and employ members of the Market Research Society which is based on the ESOMAR principles.  

About ABTA
ABTA has been a trusted travel brand for over 65 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 around 1,200 Members, with a combined annual UK turnover of £38 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.