ABTA will clamp down on the pricing of holidays over the next three months by insisting fuel supplements and all non-optional costs are included in the basic advertised price.
A spokesman said the move will be directed at operators and will include all advertising in brochures and websites as well as high street deals featured in shop windows.
He said the move was simply a matter of reinforcing ABTA’s Code of Contact which requires members to show clear, transparent pricing but which has been allowed to slip recently due to turbulent fuel prices.
He added: “We were always going to do this but because the price of fuel has stabilised after the last two years when it was quite volatile and it has also come down we believe the time is right to introduce this now.”
The move comes following Thomson’s announcement at the end of last year that it would absorb fuel supplements in its advertised prices and the ABTA spokesman said all operators, including the remaining big three, would be required to follow suit.
He added: “Even if Thomson hadn’t started doing this we would have done it anyway as customers have become a lot more aware and you can’t get away with advertising misleading prices.”
The association has also backed the Office of Fair Trading’s pledge today to take tougher action on airlines which often fail to include additional costs in their headline prices.
The spokesman said this is partially thanks to airlines not being ABTA members which makes them exempt from its own rules and should create a more even playing field.
ABTA chief executive Mark Tanzer said: “We will carry out all necessary steps to regulate our members to achieve a better environment for consumers in terms of transparent pricing, but the key to success here is compliance from the airlines and the OFT’s ability to enforce the law.”