How has USTOA served as an advocate for the consumer?
The travel industry is highly vulnerable, especially the tour operator industry. Even the best companies with the best reputations can fail. In the 27 years I’ve been here, we’ve had six or seven that have gone out. When that happens, we’re the only source of communication to the media, the travel agent and the consumer. When an operator goes down, they shut down. Nobody answers the telephone. So reporters call us and consumers call us. Our membership feels so strongly about the organization and the industry that they step in and try to take care of the people who are traveling. We have some members who offer tours and waive deposits for those booked on the failed operator. For those who have paid with a credit card, we give instructions on what they need to do right away. Now the largest failure in the industry was Far & Wide. What are you doing in the Far & Wide case? In the last 27 years, Kingdom Vacations and Far & Wide were the only two we were unable to give the full 100 percent
