ABTA’s chief executive, Mark Tanzer has written an open letter to customers of the Association’s Members with travel arrangements that have been affected by the coronavirus crisis to explain the current situation and ask for their support.

Published in the national press, this week, the letter explains how international travel has been brought to a complete standstill by government measures to contain the pandemic and that this has led to hundreds of thousands of holidays being affected. It expresses sympathy for customers who have asked for a refund and may feel frustrated and concerned at the amount of time it is taking.

In the letter, Tanzer, said: “Travel agents and operators are working extremely hard in the most trying of circumstances to do their best for their customers. But many travel companies are unable to provide immediate cash refunds.

“It’s in nobody’s interests for normally healthy travel businesses to go under. As well as the loss of thousands of jobs, the Government-backed ATOL financial protection scheme would be overwhelmed by a large-scale failure of businesses and it would take many more months for customers to get a refund. In the absence of Government action, ABTA has developed a regulatory framework for financially-protected refunds for its Members and their customers.”