Report by
Tanya Jefferies
THE
INSTITUTE of Trading Standards is poised to launch prosecutions against leading
tour operators who use fluid pricing when selling holidays.
Travel
expert for Trading Standards, Bruce Treloar, said the watchdog had received
complaints about fluid pricing – a system under which rates are continuously
raised and lowered according to demand, and where brochure prices rarely
reflect the true cost of a holiday.
Tour
operators insist that fluid pricing is legal and does not mislead the public,
but Trading Standards disagrees. “There are a number of pending criminal
investigations about to go to court,” said Treloar. “We are talking to the top
tour operators to state this is an illegal practice.”
He
declined to identify the companies being targeted.