The Changing Face of Tourism

Once one of the darlings of the financial world in the UK, the British tourism industry is currently undergoing a massive period of change and patterns of consumer spending have altered massively over the last few years, with dire consequences to many companies. As with so many other business models, the prime driver of this change has been the world-wide-web, and whilst the internet has brought cheaper prices within the reach of many, it has had catastrophic effects on much of the business. In the past, the majority of package holidays bought by UK consumers were provided through a chain of companies. The customer bought from a high-street travel agent, who in turn was acting as an agent for a holiday tour operator like my own company, Cyprus Paradise, who specialize in holidays to north Cyprus. The tour operator in turn was buying the individual parts of the holiday from the relevant suppliers, such as airlines, hotels, car hire companies and transfer agents.

That business model is fast becoming a thing of the past, and in turn many travel agents and tour operators have closed their doors for the last time – frequently having lost substantial amounts of money of late. The prime reason lies with the ability of the consumer, through the use of the Internet, to effectively bypass all the parts of the old chain and become their own tour operator and travel agent. Pretty much all aspects of holidays can be bought on-line in this way, frequently with great ease.

However, all is not as simple as it might at first seem. In terms of security, tour operators selling holidays in the UK must carry bonding referred to as ATOL (Air Travel Operators Licence) and administered by the Civil Aviation Authority. The terms for this are strict and rigidly enforced and the effect is that anyone buying a holiday through an ATOL holder is completely protected financially. If the company providing the holiday goes out of business before the passenger travels, all monies paid are refunded. If the worst should happen while a customer is on holiday, the bond will pay for, and make arrangements for, return air travel. In the current climate of financial failure, this is a vital piece of protection.

All holiday tour operators are also obliged to carry suitable liability insurance. In the (hopefully unlikely!) event of anyone suffering injury as the result of circumstances outside of their control, this can be extremely advantageous. Nobody likes to think of any dreadful things happening during their holidays, but unfortunately there have been far too many bad events over the years to ignore the possibility of problems.

Anyone who books a holiday direct, bypassing travel agents and tour operators, will effectively lose all the financial and other protection they would otherwise have been entitled to, so it is vital that they make the correct decisions in the full knowledge of all the facts. Ironically, it is effectively only tour operators who are obliged to offer all the relevant protection. Neither airlines, travel agents, nor many of the large Internet sites need to (or do) carry such bonding and insurance and customers are effectively unprotected when booking direct or through such entities.

So there you have it. By all means, try to get the best holiday deals you can, but please take care and make sure you aren’t exposing yourself to a potentially large loss!

About The Author-- Richard works for Northern Cyprus holiday company, Cyprus Paradise.

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