(PRWeb UK) August 23, 2010

The popularity of online travel agents and tour operators has grown considerably over recent years, with consumers able to browse and choose from a number of deals to several destinations, from cheap holidays to Fuerteventura to backpacking holidays around the world. But the sudden collapse of a number of well-known British online travel operators this year, including Goldtrail and most recently, both Sun4U and Kiss Flights in August, led to over 13,000 holidaymakers being stranded abroad and left thousands of others without the holiday they paid for.

Its an unfortunate turn of events, says Luke Nathan of online travel consultants Travelsoon.com. And while there was no way to foresee that this was going to happen, many holidaymakers are unaware of the rights they have when they travel, and the loopholes that can stop them from reclaiming their money. But there are precautions you can take when booking your holiday that could help you if the worst should happen.

One of the best ways that travellers can protect themselves is by booking their holiday with a travel agent thats ATOL (Air Travel Organisers Licensing) protected, this means that if the travel agency then goes bust, the everyone who booked with an ATOL protected agent will be flown home by the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) and the people that were due to fly will be able to get a full refund if their holiday was cancelled. So if a customer booked holidays to Gran Canaria, but then the travel agent went into administration once the customer was abroad, theyll be flown home for no extra charge. If another customer booked with a non-ATOL protected company, they will be responsible for arranging and financing their own flights home.

The trick is to do your research before you book, says Nathan. There are so many travel companies online, but not all of them are ATOL protected. Another way to protect yourself is to pay using a credit card or Visa debit card, on sums over