The AVG Travels collapse has affected public perception of the travel industry. There is no point pretending otherwise.
Most consumers do not separate travel agents, tour operators, wholesalers, online sellers and package providers into neat categories.
They just see a travel business collapse, people lose money or have trips disrupted and the whole industry cops the reputational hit.
The media has made that worse by repeatedly referring to AVG as a travel agent. That is incorrect. AVG was not a travel agent. It was a tour operator / package provider.
That distinction matters!
When the media calls every travel business a “travel agent”, it damages consumer confidence in actual travel agencies that had nothing to do with the business model, product, pricing, or collapse in question.
Good agents end up carrying reputational damage for something they were not part of.
So what should travellers learn from this?
AVG was cheap. That is uncomfortable to say, but it matters. The phrase “you get what you pay for” comes to mind.
Not because every cheap deal is bad, but because very low pricing should trigger better questions.
Who is operating the trip? Who is holding the money? Have flights been ticketed? Have suppliers been paid? What happens if the operator fails? Is the business currently accredited?
Cheap is not always value. In travel, sometimes cheap means risk has been moved somewhere else.
There is also a lot to be said about businesses that operate mostly online. They often lack the personal relationship, representative support and day-to-day trade connection that agents rely on when something goes wrong.
Many run on slim margins and when they are built almost entirely on volume and price, there is not much room for shock.
We saw a similar issue with Traveldream, another heavily online discount travel business that collapsed in 2025 and left customers with bookings disrupted or unsupported.
The lesson is similar: cheap, online and heavily discounted does not mean safe.
That is where agents and good agency networks matter. Groups like Travellers Choice maintain scrutiny over preferred suppliers for a reason: protecting clients, protecting members and reducing exposure to operators that may not meet expected standards.
Accreditation also matters, but it needs to be better understood.
AVG was not ATIA accredited when this unfolded. ATIA had cancelled its accreditation back in 2022 after it failed to meet the required standards.
AVG did, however, hold CATO accreditation, which CATO suspended once complaints came to light.
That distinction matters because it shows why the broader accreditation landscape needs to be clearer and more aligned.
Perhaps if the proposed ATIA and CATO merger had happened sooner, some gaps may have been picked up earlier. Maybe not. But one stronger framework, one clearer set of standards and one more coordinated industry voice has to be better than consumers trying to understand multiple schemes after something has gone wrong.
Accreditation is important, but it is not a magic forcefield. It is not an insurance policy. What it should do is give consumers a better way to assess who they are dealing with before handing over thousands of dollars.
The answer to AVG is not to tar the whole industry. It is to educate consumers better.
Travellers should not just ask, “Is this cheap?” They should ask, “Why is it cheap, who is behind it and what happens if something goes wrong?”
Good businesses will answer those questions. The others rely on consumers never asking.
Written by Ben Apsey, Manager & Travel Planner, Global Travel Co
