The Association of Tour Operators and Travel Agents of the Czech Republic

ACCKA attended the 115th ECTAA semi-annual meeting in Portugal

AČCKA representatives participated in the spring meeting of ECTAA which took place from 31st May to 2nd June 2017 in the Portuguese university city of Coimbra.

The agenda was dominated by the implementation of the European Package Travel Directive, matters pertaining to the IATA accredited agents and the on-going initiatives in the field of cruise industry.

The reunion of the ECTAA members was organized by the Portuguese Association of Travel & Tourism Agencies (APAVT) with support from the local partners. More than 70 professional associations’ representatives from the EU, EEA, Israel, Tunisia and Morocco took part in the meeting.

The main topic of the session was the indirect airline distribution (IATA matters), overview of the stage of implementation of the Package Travel Directive in the individual EU Member States, major challenges for the cruise industry including travel facilitation and the existence of cyber security threats and the best practises on how to tackle them. A significant part of the negotiations was devoted to the tendency of airlines to move from traditional indirect sales channels (GDSs) to direct sales via their own web sites and reservation systems.

In terms of the implementation of the European Package Directive into the national legislations, it was clearly stated that only the Czech Republic and Poland (Slovakia still considers) have proposed significant changes in the current financial security scheme in the event of a travel organiser’s insolvency. Other EU countries keep their existing insolvency protection systems unchanged or come only with moderate adjustments.

The 115th semi-annual meeting provided the opportunity to exchange best practices on transposition of the relevant EU law and to take common positions on the current challenges faced by tourism entities. 

09.06.2017