It has recently been announced, by a top UK tour operator, that they will only be offering holidays that feature all inclusive packages in the 2012 holiday season. This must reflect the fact that our preference towards the type of holiday we take is changing and travel companies are trying their best to keep up with this fact.
Personally, I feel that this bold step is somewhat of a mistake, it fails to reflect any choice and I am confident that this tour operator will lose out on a huge share of this industry next year. Moreover, when it comes to Europe especially, not everyone wants all inclusive packages, there are still many people who would prefer Rome apartments instead of soulless all inclusive resorts.
Obviously, there will be many other tour operators in the market next year who will be offering self catering, half and full board options, but it is a worry that more companies may follow suit in this practice, eliminating even more choice for our holidays as a result.
This makes me feel that the traditional tour operator is starting to die out. We all know how much they have been struggling over recent years and it really is no wonder, when we have worked out how to put a full package together independently and save beaucoup bucks along the way. It is time for these companies to box much more clever than this, otherwise they may as well just roll over and die right now. Better value and more choice seem to the essential criteria for future survival in this industry.