ABTA to Encourage Consumers to “Look for the Logo”

Marketing campaign will focus on educating consumers about the benefits of booking with an ABTA Member

2012-12-07 — /travelprnews.com/ — With the peak booking season approaching ABTA is launching a new marketing campaign with the aim of educating consumers about the benefits of booking with an ABTA Member and reminding them to look for the logo when they book.

The ABTA logo already enjoys 78% consumer recognition and 7 in 10 consumers regard ABTA Membership as essential or important when booking their travel arrangements. This campaign aims to build on this recognition and highlight the full range of ABTA’s work that benefits consumers: from the Code of Conduct and financial protection schemes to its complaints handling and arbitration service and its work in raising health and safety and sustainability standards at home and abroad.

To kick off the campaign, in January ABTA is launching a new leaflet “Why book with an ABTA Member” for Members to provide to consumers. To order copies. Members should email: membersinfo@abta.co.uk with the number of copies they want (please note requests for copies will be subject to availability) and their Membership number.

The campaign will include a series of initiatives including: a new video to support the consumer leaflet called “Why book with an ABTA Member” that will be promoted across a range of digital channels; a completely revamped consumer section on abta.com that will include a range of travel advice for before, during and after a holiday; plus social media promotion and media campaigns in the New Year to inform consumers about the benefits of booking with an ABTA Member.  Additionally, following the success of the 2012 “Love Travel” university road show, which reached over 100,000 students on and offline, ABTA will step up promotional activity among UK students with another road show programme in 2013.

To help Members ensure they get the most marketing value out of their Membership, ABTA has also today launched new guidance for Members on how to promote their ABTA Membership.

Victoria Bacon, Head of Communications, ABTA said: “Consumer awareness of ABTA is already high and has increased in the last year among younger people. This initiative aims to further strengthen levels of awareness as well as promoting a better understanding of the full range of benefits of booking with an ABTA Member. For instance our own research shows that consumers consider safe and secure accommodation their number one booking essential so it’s important they understand the role we play in setting health and safety standards as well as providing a course of redress if something goes wrong when they’re away. The greater the understanding of the full range of services ABTA provides, the more consumers will know to look for the logo when they book. We’d encourage all Members to ensure they display the logo clearly in time for the peak booking season when we’ll be going live with the initiative.”

For further information

For further information contact:
Sean Tipton, Media Relations Manager, tel: 020 3117 0513
Gillian Edwards, Senior Public Relations Manager, 020 3117 0514
Victoria Bacon Head of Communications, tel: 020 3117 0515
Out of Hours: Contact the Duty Press Officer via pager: 07659 190 987
E-mail: press@abta.co.uk
Web: www.abta.com
Twitter: @ABTAtravel

Notes to editors

About ABTA

ABTA has been at the heart of travel for more than 60 years. Our purpose is to help our Members to grow their businesses successfully and sustainably, and to help their customers – the travelling public – have confidence in their travel experience.

The ABTA brand stands for expertise, reliability and fairness. These qualities are core to us. 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 providing schemes of financial protection and a course of redress if something goes wrong; by raising standards in the industry and by 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 currently has around 1,300 Members and represents over 5,000 retail outlets and offices. For more details about what we do, what being an ABTA Member means and how we’re working at the heart of the industry to ensure that we continue to build confidence in travel visit www.abta.com.

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