Shopping on line can be easy, simple and save you lots of money. It can also take a lot of your time, frustrate you, and result in unwanted purchases. Now the same can be said for regular high street shopping, but with the vast opportunity presented by the Internet it will pay you to spend a few minutes reading this and understanding how to better optimize your Package Holiday shopping experience:
1. Compare - without doubt the biggest advantage that the Package Holiday offers shoppers today is the ability to compare thousands of Package Holiday at a time. This is a great thing, but not necessarily all the time! Too much can be daunting at times so take advantage of the great comparison sites and where possible let them do the hard work for you.
2. Research - if it has been said it will be on the internet. Ignorance is no longer a justifiable reason for buying the wrong thing. Take the time to research in detail everything that you could possible want to know about
3. Testimonials - don't know anybody that has bought a Package Holiday? Wrong! If the Package Holiday is good the internet will let you know. Use the Internet as a friend and get testimonials before you buy.
4. Questions - Got a question about Package Holiday then search the Forums, FAQ's, Blogs etc. Don't be afraid to ask .....
5. Reputation - Never heard of the company selling Package Holiday? Don't worry, no reason why you should know every company in the world, but you know someone that does! Use the internet to find out what people are saying about Package Holiday and build up a picture of their reputation for sales, returns, customer service, delivery etc.
6. Returns - still worried that even after all of the above your Package Holiday wont be what you want? Check out the returns policy. There is so much competition now that someone, somewhere is bound to offer the terms that you are comfortable with.
7. Feedback - happy with your Package Holiday then let people know, after all you are depending on others people input in your buying decision, so why not give a little back.
8. Security - check for the yellow padlock on the Package Holiday site before you buy, and the s after http:/ /i.e. https:// = a secure site
9. Contact - got a question about Package Holiday, or want to leave a comment then check out the sites contact page. Reputable companies have them and respond.
10. Payment - ready to pay for your Package Holiday, then use your credit card or PayPal! Be aware of companies that don't accept them, there may be genuine reasons but given the huge amount of choice you have when buying online there is no reason at all not to buy via credit card or PayPal.
A
package holiday or
package tour consists of
transport and
lodging advertised and sold together by a vendor known as a tour operator. Other services may be provided like a rental car, activities or outings during the holiday. Transport can be via
charter airline to a foreign country. Package holidays are a form of product bundling.
Package holidays are organised by a
tour operator and sold to a consumer by a
travel agent. Some travel agents are employees of tour operators, others are independent.
Organised Tours
The first organised tours dated back to Thomas Cook who, on
5 July 1841, chartered a
rail transport to take a group of Temperance movement campaigners from Leicester to a rally in
Loughborough, twenty miles away.
Thomas Cook#Thomas Cook and Son - the company - grew to become one of the largest and most well known travel agents before being nationalised in 1948. With the gradual decline of visits to British seaside resorts after the Second World War, Thomas Cook#Thomas Cook and Son began promoting
foreign holidays (particularly
Italy, Spain and Switzerland) in the early 1950s. Information films were shown at town halls throughout Britain. However, they made a costly decision by not going into the new form of cheap holidays which combined the transport and accommodation arrangements into a single 'package'. The company went further into decline and were only rescued by a consortium buy-out on 26 May
1972{{cite web| year = 1972
| url = http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/may/26/newsid_3003000/3003665.stm
| title = Thomas Cook packaged and sold
| format = HTML
| work = BBC
| accessmonthday = 26 May
| accessyear = 1972
-->
Package Tours
Vladimir Raitz, the co-founder of the Horizon Holiday Group, pioneered the first mass package holidays abroad with charter flights between London Gatwick Airport and
Corsica in 1950, and organised the first package holiday to
Palma de Mallorca in 1952, Lourdes in 1953, and the Costa Brava and
Sardinia in 1954. In addition, the amendments made in Montreal to the Convention on International Civil Aviation on June 14
1954 was very liberal to Spain, allowing impetus for mass tourism using charter planes.
By the late
1950s and
1960s, these cheap package holidays - which combined flight, transfers and accommodation - provided the first chance for most people in the
United Kingdom to have affordable travel abroad. One of the first charter airlines was
Britannia Airways#History, which commenced flights from
Manchester Airport in 1961 and London Luton Airport in 1962. Despite opening up mass tourism to Crete and the
Algarve in 1970, the package tour industry declined during the 1970s. On
15 August 1974, the industry was shaken when the second-largest tour operator, Court Line which operated under the brand names of Horizon and Clarksons, collapsed. Nearly 50,000 tourists were stranded overseas and a further 100,000 faced the loss of booking deposits.
Recently a growing number of consumers are avoiding package holidays and instead are travelling with budget airlines and booking their own accommodation. In the UK, the downturn in the package holiday market led to the consolidation of the tour operator market, which is now dominated by a few large tour operators. The major operators are
Thomson Holidays, part of the
TUI AG,
Thomas Cook AG,
MyTravel Group PLC, and
First Choice (travel firm). Under these umbrella brands there exists a whole range of different holiday operators catering to different markets, such as
Club 18-30 or Simply Travel.
Dynamic packaging
Dynamic Packaging is a method that is becoming increasingly used in package holiday booking procedures that enables consumers to build their own package of flights, accommodation and hire car instead of a pre-defined package.{{cite web| year = 2005
| url = http://www.eyefortravel.com/index.asp?news=44726
| title = Travel Agents Could Lose Out in the Dynamic Packaging Battle
| format = HTML
| work = First Conferences Ltd.
| accessmonthday = 19 January
| accessyear = 2005
-->
Free Independent Traveler
Free Independent Traveler/Tourist (or FIT) refers to both a way of traveling and, from an industry viewpoint, a sector within the tourism market. FITs practise a form of
Dynamic packaging but the emphasis is from the end-user point of view and includes the wider economic effects that FITs "spread" in their destination country as opposed to more traditional, consolidated forms of travel.
References
A
package holiday or
package tour consists of transport and
lodging advertised and sold together by a vendor known as a tour operator. Other services may be provided like a rental car, activities or outings during the holiday. Transport can be via
charter airline to a foreign country. Package holidays are a form of
product bundling.
Package holidays are organised by a tour operator and sold to a consumer by a travel agent. Some travel agents are employees of tour operators, others are independent.
Organised Tours
The first organised tours dated back to
Thomas Cook who, on
5 July 1841, chartered a
rail transport to take a group of Temperance movement campaigners from Leicester to a rally in
Loughborough, twenty miles away.
Thomas Cook#Thomas Cook and Son - the company - grew to become one of the largest and most well known travel agents before being nationalised in 1948. With the gradual decline of visits to British
seaside resorts after the Second World War, Thomas Cook#Thomas Cook and Son began promoting
foreign holidays (particularly Italy, Spain and Switzerland) in the early 1950s. Information films were shown at town halls throughout Britain. However, they made a costly decision by not going into the new form of cheap holidays which combined the transport and accommodation arrangements into a single 'package'. The company went further into decline and were only rescued by a consortium buy-out on 26 May
1972{{cite web| year = 1972
| url = http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/may/26/newsid_3003000/3003665.stm
| title = Thomas Cook packaged and sold
| format = HTML
| work = BBC
| accessmonthday = 26 May
| accessyear = 1972
-->
Package Tours
Vladimir Raitz, the co-founder of the Horizon Holiday Group, pioneered the first mass package holidays abroad with charter flights between
London Gatwick Airport and Corsica in 1950, and organised the first package holiday to
Palma de Mallorca in 1952, Lourdes in 1953, and the
Costa Brava and
Sardinia in 1954. In addition, the amendments made in Montreal to the Convention on International Civil Aviation on
June 14 1954 was very liberal to Spain, allowing impetus for mass tourism using charter planes.
By the late 1950s and 1960s, these cheap package holidays - which combined flight, transfers and accommodation - provided the first chance for most people in the United Kingdom to have affordable travel abroad. One of the first charter airlines was Britannia Airways#History, which commenced flights from Manchester Airport in 1961 and London Luton Airport in 1962. Despite opening up mass tourism to Crete and the Algarve in 1970, the package tour industry declined during the 1970s. On 15 August 1974, the industry was shaken when the second-largest tour operator, Court Line which operated under the brand names of Horizon and Clarksons, collapsed. Nearly 50,000 tourists were stranded overseas and a further 100,000 faced the loss of booking deposits.
Recently a growing number of consumers are avoiding package holidays and instead are travelling with budget airlines and booking their own accommodation. In the UK, the downturn in the package holiday market led to the consolidation of the tour operator market, which is now dominated by a few large tour operators. The major operators are
Thomson Holidays, part of the
TUI AG,
Thomas Cook AG, MyTravel Group PLC, and
First Choice (travel firm). Under these umbrella brands there exists a whole range of different holiday operators catering to different markets, such as Club 18-30 or Simply Travel.
Dynamic packaging
Dynamic Packaging is a method that is becoming increasingly used in package holiday booking procedures that enables consumers to build their own package of flights, accommodation and hire car instead of a pre-defined package.{{cite web| year = 2005
| url = http://www.eyefortravel.com/index.asp?news=44726
| title = Travel Agents Could Lose Out in the Dynamic Packaging Battle
| format = HTML
| work = First Conferences Ltd.
| accessmonthday = 19 January
| accessyear = 2005
-->
Free Independent Traveler
Free Independent Traveler/Tourist (or FIT) refers to both a way of traveling and, from an industry viewpoint, a sector within the tourism market. FITs practise a form of Dynamic packaging but the emphasis is from the end-user point of view and includes the wider economic effects that FITs "spread" in their destination country as opposed to more traditional, consolidated forms of travel.
References
