FROM AFTA’s chief executive, Jayson Westbury
A VERY happy new year to all the loyal Travel Daily readers as Australia well and truly returns to work after a long hot summer. This past holiday season has fortunately been one without any significant global incidents or drama and for the travel industry this has been welcomed. Last year definitely presented us all with many dreadful incidents and I guess all we can do is hope that 2018 is not a repeat of any of that. Sadly, the world remains on alert for something to happen somewhere and it does seem that these days we have all become more prepared to deal with incidents when they occur.
On a brighter note, I expect 2018 to be a good year for the travel industry. The Australian economy is bubbling along well and apart from crazy global impacts, the forecast appears to be for a stable 12 months. That all should mean that people travel both for business and pleasure and this should bring with it good results for all in the industry.
For AFTA, we will be bedding down the new AFTA Chargeback Scheme (ACS) as more and more members join on to the program to get the protection they need against credit card chargebacks. In addition to this, AFTA will be getting out and about more and more as we bring on a business development executive in the second quarter of this year. This will enable AFTA to be on the road visiting with members, talking about all the terrific products and services AFTA has to offer, along with explaining the new ACS scheme to new members who choose to join.
All this with the normal colour and movement of talking with our friends in Canberra in the lead up to the next Federal Election. Not sure exactly when that will be, but both sides are already talking about policies and developing ideas that we hope will bring benefits to the travel and tourism industry across the country.
So as my first column for the year, hello to all and I look forward to another action packed year for the travel industry throughout 2018.
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Source: traveldaily