Travel firms to face tougher online advertising rules

The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) has announced that from next year, travel companies promoting their products online will face stricter regulations. The UK’s advertising watchdog will have its powers extended to all online marketing as of March 2011. This will include social networking sites such as Twitter and Facebook.

Well behind the times, the ASA’s powers only currently cover traditional forms of advertising such as TV, print, billboards and radio. The agency was spurred into action, however, after receiving 4,500 complaints about online ads since 2008; complaints which they have so far been unable to deal with.

The most common gripes are about misleading prices, particularly with sites selling air fares. Often these commercials lure customers in with tempting offers but neglect to mention the pricey add-ons such as taxes and charges.

A spokeswoman for ASA said that next year the agency will have the power to name and shame companies that refuse to comply with its rulings, as well as pull publicity and investigate complaints. Paid-for links could also be removed from search engines if they link to problematic advertising.

In additional, the ASA could release its own publicity to draw attention to any offending firms. Chairman of ASA and former Labour culture secretary Lord Smith said the measures would protect the children and consumers who are the most vulnerable.

The UK aviation watchdog, the Air Transport Users Council, has welcomed the news but said that a more pressing matter was the Civil Aviation Authority’s enforcement of a rule to protect passengers against misleading pricing.