ABTA is altering its subscription policy, allowing current members free membership for six months due to the coronavirus outbreak.

ABTA chief executive, Mark Tanzer, said: “Due to the unprecedented challenges that the travel industry currently faces caused by the coronavirus outbreak, and to support our Members at this time, ABTA is altering its policy for the subscriptions year from 1 July 2020.

“All current Members will be offered free membership for six months to help see them through the current crisis and into the anticipated recovery period later in the year.

“ABTA will continue to provide support in every way we can. In the meantime, Members are encouraged to stay up to date via ABTA Today, on the Member zone of the website and through our weekly conference calls, which are designed to help address pressing issues.”

In a statement, it said that payment of the 50 per cent discount is deferred until 2021, and will be due in two instalments.

Members will be asked to pay £100 on 1 July to maintain their membership, for administrative purposes to confirm membership and keep their direct debit active and valid.

ABTA has urged the Government to lend its support to the travel industry, which has been greatly impacted by the pandemic.

Tanzer said: “Travel businesses are working around the clock to manage arrangements for customers, including repatriation, and have been trying to provide alternative arrangements for those with imminent departures but this has now become impossible as the virus has spread. Travel agents and tour operators are also facing a huge drop in future bookings.

“ABTA is calling for urgent action by the Government to help businesses in the short-term by making funds readily available to travel and tourism companies and to make temporary changes to existing package travel regulation with immediate effect.

“The existing financial protection structures and regulations were not designed to cope with a large-scale collapse of businesses.

“Without these reasonable steps, we risk healthy travel businesses going bankrupt, tens of thousands of job losses across the country and customers losing millions of pounds.”

Visit ABTA’s coronavirus advice page or gov.uk for the latest travel updates.

Our view:

The cruise industry is facing an unprecedented and ever-changing situation, and we are committed to keeping you informed with the most up-to-date news. However, we firmly believe that the cruise industry will bounce back. When it does, we’ll be on hand to help you get back to selling the cruises that people love.