Hello and welcome to today's independent travel podcast, which you might be able to hear,

comes from a fairly convivial environment. That is because it is a seminar conducted by the

absolute top travel lawyers, Traveloor of Leeds in West Yorkshire and they are basically advising

a whole range of clients and government and even a journalist about all the changes to travel law

that are under consideration or have actually taken place.

So what is this going to mean for you? Well, there is only one person to ask.

Tall, handsome, very, very brainy. No, not me. It's Matt Gatenby, who is senior partner at TraveLaw.

Matt, tell us what has been happening while we have all been focusing on things such as the COVID pandemic

and the general malayses that have affected travellers we've kind of all got back together again. So what's been going on? Thank you, Simon. And thank you very much for having me. And you can come again. Very kind. Well, as we all know, prior to the pandemic, we had the package travel regulations, which were one of the main laws, which affects all of us who go on holiday. Most of us are going to be travelling and thinking about packages. We all see the adverts on TV. It's kind of got something for everybody in terms of the travel industry. The pandemic got in the way, it's fair to say, but it was due to be reviewed. The pandemic did expose some of the, some of the failings of it, some of the things didn't work so well. But behind the scenes,

the Department for Business and Trade, as they are now, have been working on a plan. They were due to

report back this year on kind of how the package travel regulations have been working, and they

have just put forward that plan. And there was a lot more in it than we thought there might be,

but it covers a whole range of things, ranging from,

well, actually, what is a package, what is a link travel arrangement, something that a lot of

people haven't heard about, and then all the things that we saw during a pandemic, like how did it

work, how does this have an effect on businesses, how does it have effect on consumers? It's quite

wide-ranging.

Now, for anybody who is kind enough to listen to these podcasts, you will know that I am always going on about how the package travel regulations are the travellers' friends.

And if you book a flight plus accommodation or another product, even a rental car. You are benefiting from this

remarkable piece of consumer legislation, which not being a lawyer Matt, but I'm going to say

basically says if you don't get the holiday you were promised, the company that organized it,

the tour operator, has to do something about it

...