THE industry has slammed The Sun’s campaign against higher prices in school holidays as “cheap journalism”.
The newspaper highlighted price hikes of up to 117.9% and wants ABTA to lean on operators to reduce prices. It has asked its 10 million readers to sign a petition.
Operators have joined forces to fight accusations families are forced to pay “hugely inflated school-holiday prices.”
Federation of Tour Operators director-general Andy Cooper said: “There are peaks and troughs in any industry depending on supply and demand.
“It’s another cheap piece of journalism.”
He urged ABTA not to interfere. ABTA chief executive Mark Tanzer agreed. “The UK travel industry is one of the most competitively priced worldwide.
“ABTA cannot get involved in pricing of members’ products, nor would we want to given we live in a free market economy.”
The Government-backed Every Lesson Counts scheme, which promotes school-holiday deals and which The Sun claims is a sham, has been so popular it has been extended until the end of next month, he added. The Every Lesson Counts scheme will be reviewed next month by the Government.
Libra Holidays sales and marketing director Paul Riches said: “When there are no kids around, it’s difficult to fill aircraft, yet operating costs remain the same.”
Cosmos commercial director Stuart Jackson agreed. “There isn’t any profiteering out of the high season,” he said.
On Holiday Group chief executive Steve Endacott said: “The Sun needs to wake up, 30% of holidays are sold at a loss. The school holidays are the few weeks the industry makes money and even then it’s a maximum of 5%.”
The story follows a High Court ruling stating parents taking children out of school without permission are breaking the law. The Sun said: “The ruling makes it even more difficult for parents to get permission for trips, forcing many to pay hugely inflated school holiday prices.”
Travel Weekly has responded to The Sun’s petition with one of our own. |