BRITAIN’S big four tour operators, Thomson, My Travel, First Choice and Thomas Cook, are on the verge of launching a holiday price war in the UK to secure firm bookings over the next six weeks, reports in the British press said yesterday.
According to one newspaper summer holidays will be sold for as little at £99 sterling as travel firms launch a price war in the wake of a 24 per cent overall drop in bookings for 2004. Figures obtained by the Sunday Mail a week ago showed that British holiday bookings to Cyprus for next summer are down 34 per cent, ten per cent more than the total market average from the UK.
According to the reports yesterday British travel firms are looking to shift more than three million unsold package holidays during the next six weeks. The battle, conducted in an atmosphere of desperation, sees both First Choice and Thomas Cook offering 2004 brochure holidays starting at £99.
Offers will include two children for the price of one, with MyTravel offering more than 250,000 guaranteed free child places and no flight supplements on more than 70 per cent of its summer programme.
Lunn Poly, the high street travel agent arm of Thomson Holidays, is offering savings of up to 30 per cent off summer breaks to destinations such as Ibiza, Majorca, Greece, Portugal, the Canary islands, Malta, Cyprus and Turkey. It is also throwing in free insurance.
Lunn Poly managing director Chris Mottershead told the Daily Mail: “There’s a lot of talk about people booking holidays later, but January remains the most popular month to book a summer holiday by far. More than a third of the nation books a holiday during January and February, simply because it’s the best time to get a great holiday deal.
“The last couple of years have been very unsettled — war in Iraq was building up last year — but we’re expecting sales this January to be very strong.”
The travel firms are desperate to encourage families to book summer holidays soon rather than wait for last-minute discounts, the Daily Mail said.
But Gary Noakes, of the Travel Trade Gazette, warned consumers not to be taken in by the bargain hype. He said: “It is common practice for travel companies to ramp up the brochure prices at this time of year in order to make any discounts look more attractive.”
Consumers appear wise to these tricks, but the promise of a bargain still does seem to work in terms of boosting sales.
Cypriot hoteliers are also working on a scheme to issue early bookings discounts to tour operators to encourage them to block-book early, which would enable them to sell Cyprus cheap at this stage instead of entering the last-minute market next summer and have to deal with low prices at that stage.
