ABTA launches Travel Buddy service

ABTA – The Travel Association, has launched a new service for British holidaymakers called the Travel Buddy.

The new ABTA Travel Buddy service could prove especially useful for tourists travelling further afield, such as those planning holidays to India or booking flights to Thailand.

This free service will provide tailored ‘know before you go’ information to customers via email and, in cases of emergency, will send free texts offering guidance and a means of contacting home while they are abroad.

ABTA members can offer the service to their customers, allowing them to provide essential travel information both before travel and while they are away.

Lorna Cowan, editor of Which? Holiday, thinks travellers will be keen to sign up for the service. “If it is going to be free and it is going to help them in the event of a crisis, who is not going to take up the offer?” she said.

She feels that the text service is particularly useful as many travellers do not continue to check the Foreign Office website for up-to-date information once they are on holiday.

Written by Nicholas Scott