The heads of The Global Travel Group, The Advantage Travel Partnership and The Travel Network Group all voiced concerns over the crime in a session at the Barclays Travel Forum.

Julia Lo Bue-Said, Advantage’s managing director, said she had real concerns over the issue having recently had to deal with it at her organisation.

“[The] models that we operate in are susceptible to fraud and what we would like to see is actual support… [and] more communication with not only the regulators but with the merchant acquires, the banks, everybody to help stamp this out,” she said.

“It’s business-to-business fraud, so we all have insurance, that’s not the point. It’s wrong that agents can move from one group to another creating fraud and actually we’re all tarnished with the same brush.

“The consumer is getting their holiday but it’s not great for the industry.”