The Daily Telegraph - Saturday - Travel
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So are package holidays really finished – or “screwed”, as Ryanair’s blunt-speaking chief executive put it this week? His comments were made at a Reuters conference where he also criticised the Civil Aviation Authority for not being effective in its dealings with Thomas Cook prior to its collapse. (They also coincided with Ryanair’s launch of its own schedule of flights for summer 2020, so he had an interest in knocking the companies with which he is competing on flights to the sun and snow.)
I’m not totally clear about the fine detail of O’Leary’s argument, but his headline comments are ridiculously simplistic and, frankly, wrong. Despite the collapse of Thomas Cook, the notion that package holidays are “screwed” simply isn’t borne out by the evidence. In fact, sales of package holidays have been broadly stable since 2014. And last year, Abta reported a rise in the proportion of holidaymakers booking a package – up from 57 per cent to 60 per cent. That is not a death rattle, but a sign of the industry’s admirable ability to adapt to changing holiday habits.
There have always been casualties, of course – tour operators which, like Thomas Cook, failed to reinvent themselves. Despite its long and venerable history, the company had morphed into a debt-ridden dinosaur operating largely at the bottom of the market to destinations where people felt more than confident to book, say, a Ryanair flight, and arrange their own accommodation too. That sort of package is not quite dead, but it is certainly on the way out.
But if O’Leary looked more broadly at the concept, he would find that the industry had long ago realised that it needed to offer more flexibility if it was to retain its customers. As a result, successful tour operators have become much more like travel agents – arranging bespoke holidays tailored to the preferences of their clients, rather than pre-packaged products sold off the price grid in the brochure.
They have also focused on types of holiday where they can still add value and improve their customers’ experience – for example, more exotic long-haul destinations where people are less confident about making their own arrangements, or want to be sure that they organise their time efficiently or plan an unusual itinerary. Winter holidays are also prime territory – it is still either hard or ridiculously expensive to organise transfers to ski resorts, conveniences that are normally part and parcel of a package.
I also think people will understand that the failure of Thomas Cook is not a reason to shun package holidays. The financial protection and repatriation that its customers have enjoyed is precisely what makes them such a wise investment in the first place.
FIVE REASONS TO BOOK A PACKAGE HOLIDAY
Financial protection: money paid in advance for all packages must be secured, so you will be refunded or repatriated if your operator fails. That isn’t the case if you book a flight-only ticket with an airline such as Ryanair. If it goes under, you might get a refund for the fare if you booked by credit card. But if you were stranded abroad, you would have to make your own arrangements to get home.
Legal protection: an operator has a duty of care towards its clients and is responsible for the safety of the accommodation and other arrangements it sells you. If things go wrong, it must look after you; if it doesn’t, you have recourse in UK law.
Price: often, though admittedly not always, it is cheaper to buy a package rather than book the same arrangements independently.
Convenience: you won’t have to go through the tedium of booking all the elements of the package yourself.
Expertise: the best tour operators know their stuff. They have experience and contacts on the ground that you can’t replicate just by searching on Google.
Comments by Ryanair’s Michael O’Leary, that package deals are dead, are a flight of fantasy
The sector had long ago realised that it needed to offer more flexibility if it was to retain its customers