The consultant firm responsible for the review into travel industry consumer protection will be announced next week, as the industry gears up for another period of debate.

Australian Federation of Travel Agents chief executive, Jayson Westbury, held talks in Canberra this week and said assurances were given that the review will proceed this year. “It is 100% guaranteed and iron clad to happen in 2010,” Westbury said. The announcement on the consultancy firm to conduct the review was expected just before Christmas, but a change to the terms of reference resulted in a delay. The review was expected to start on January 15. Westbury said he welcomed the submission by House of Travel earlier this week, urging other industry members to also have their say.

Editors comments: This move comes as no surprise, there's been no consumer protection ever since the Australian tourism industry began and many consumers have a confidence problem when passing fairly large lumps of money over for their holidays when basically unprotected.