Hello and welcome to today's independent travel podcast with me Simon Calder. It's Thursday the 7th of May.

And everybody remains very, very concerned about their summer holiday. They are contacting me saying,

oh my goodness, I've got the trip of a lifetime and I simply don't know if it's going to go ahead.

My travel insurers won't help.

The airline won't tell me anything.

And so I thought the thing to do would be to find a voice of calm and expertise.

And so the only person for that is Mark Tanzer, the chief executive of Abta, the Travel Association.

Mark, how are you doing?

I'm doing fine, thank you, Simon.

Yes, our members are still continuing to trade and to sell holidays,

and it's almost a business as usual at the moment.

So business as usual means, here we are early May.

People are booking fresh holidays for the summer?

Yes, they are. You know, there's been a a lot of news and I can understand why people feel uncertain.

The news about fuel shortages, obviously, and everything that's going on in the Middle East

impacting the availability of jet fuel and the cost of jet fuel. But people are continuing to book their

holidays for the summer and I think they're right. You know, at the moment, none of our members are saying that they're short of fuel. But people are continuing to book their holidays for the summer and I think they're right.

You know, at the moment, none of our members are saying that they're short of fuel.

And aviation and aeroplanes are very flexible things. So they will adapt whatever circumstances arise. Now, maybe one or two people who are listening will think, oh, adapt. That could mean,

for example, I'll be moved onto a different plane,

I'll find my flights cancelled, or I'll lose a day of my holiday, all those sorts of things.

Can you offer any confidence to be?

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