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Opinion: The hidden threat to the industry’s reputation

The travel trade must be ready to head off political posturing over term-time holidays, says Steve Dunne, executive chairman of travel marketing consultancy The Brighter Group

It was, I believe, Charles Dickens, in his book Oliver Twist, who introduced the world to the phrase “the law is an ass”.

And last week we saw the law, and the local and national government officials enforcing it, showing that the Charles Dickens phrase remains alive and well – if not flourishing.

I am of course referring to the story of the West Midlands couple that now face a £2000 fine, or three months in prison, for taking their three children out of school for a holiday in Rhodes.

As the story has unfolded we have seen the predictable flexing of muscles by local and national government officials, seemingly more interested in exercising their powers than looking at the personal consequences of such a short-sighted law.

For me, nothing illustrated the ludicrousness of the story more than the comment from the spokesperson for Telford and Wrekin council, under whose jurisdiction the school comes, when they said: “Significant absence from school is disruptive to the child’s education and has a detrimental impact on attainment.”

Unlike sending the children’s parents to prison for three months for taking them out of school for a seven-day family holiday!

It is a story I suspect we will see repeated time and again over the coming year as the public increasingly try to balance the need for precious family holiday time with the economic reality of an affordable break.

And while at first sight this story looks like an awkward issue for the government, it is one that I fear the travel industry will be hurt by as it inevitably gets cast as the bad boy in the eyes of the consumer.

For, in a year that will increasingly look towards the 2015 general election, it is only a matter of time before politicians will seek to shift the blame for this story away from them and onto somebody else.

And where better to place the blame than on the shoulders of those nasty holiday companies who rack up prices during school holidays?

Now for all of us in the travel industry we know that pricing is a complex issue not totally in the hands of operators and agents. But consumers don’t know that – nor do they care.

Right now the focus across the industry is on runway capacity in the southeast, air passenger duty and travel package directives – all noteworthy issues to focus on of course – but a little distant from the consumer.

Far more dangerous to this industry’s public perception, I would argue, is the issue of schooling, family holidays and prices. For unlike APD and runway capacity – which the public, largely, remain unaware of – this one hits them hard, right between the eyes.

Soon I suspect, politicians will cast the travel industry in the same light as the banking sector – an industry with a reputation that remains dire.

The travel industry needs to pull together in the next few months and head off the inevitable political posturing that we will see.

Initiatives such as Travelzoo’s e-petition of Parliament on this very matter are a good start but it needs more of the industry to sign up to it – and quickly.

And the key industry players, from trade bodies to tour operators and agents, need to issue a united and consistent message that clearly explains the supply and demand nature of overseas hotel and resorts capacity while urging politicians to revisit the entire issue of family holidays and school time.

For while the law is indeed an ass – politicians have a great way of creating a scapegoat and vilifying it for their own gain. And if we don’t act now the travel industry could very much become the villain in this scenario.

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