Travel agencies popular with holidaymakers again

Many holidaymakers in the UK are using traditional methods for booking their annual breaks once again, such as travel agents, as they believe there is more security offered against travel operator failure if they do so. Travel companies are reporting that most British holidaymakers are booking their trips with high street retailers now, particularly since the XL failure.

Telegraph Travel reported in September that many travellers were making the move to holiday packages to ensure that they were protected financially in case of operator collapse.

This trend back to the use of travel agencies is significant for the industry, as in the last two years, Thomas Cook and TUI, the largest travel companies in Britain, taken together, had shut 250 shops.

The managing director of TUI in the UK, Dermot Blastland, noted that the campaign the company launched on television to encourage consumers to seek advice from travel agents, was yielding positive results. its television advertising campaign, encouraging people to visit a travel agent for advice, had reaped rewards. “Currently, in our shops, bookings are up around three per cent compared with the same period last year,” he commented. TUI owns First Choice and Thomson.

A Virgin Holidays director, Stewart Baird, reported that most of their bookings for next year’s summer season were being made through agencies rather than on the Internet. “Families are booking for next year and a disproportionate number are coming from travel agents,” Baird said.

Mark Tanzer, ABTA’s chief executive stressed: “People want a place of safety and they can get that reassurance and advice about their holidays from travel agents.”

Thanks to www.telegraph.co.uk for the quotes above, for more information on this article please visit their website.

www.telegraph.co.uk/travel