Financial crisis affecting consumers holiday plans

By Darren Cronian on Sunday, October 19th, 2008

Tour operators are reducing the number of holidays available to consumers, airlines are cutting routes. Everyone is feeling the side effects of the financial crisis, and you can expect to see more travel agencies and airlines go into administration during the coming winter months.

Scrums between airlines and travel companies

Next year we will see more scrums between the airlines and travel agencies, which does not make life easier for the consumer as we are forced to choose flights on price, yet, booking with an airline direct brings financial protection concerns.

No more incentives

I would love to paint a more colourful picture on the travel industry, but I think 2009 is going to be tough. Forget those last minute deals, kids go free special offers and incentives to book, those have all being thrown out of the window.

Travel Rants consumer poll

[poll id="4"]

Education of our children

We will see fewer families go away on holiday, which I think is a real shame because holidays are a great way for our future generations to learn more about the world, especially learning new languages and understanding different cultures.

Promote Britain

This is a great opportunity for Visit Britain to really promote this country to its residents, as more of us will have no alternative but to stay at home. In some respects that is good because we need to spend our money improving tourism in our own country, and they are so many places and attractions left undiscovered by tourists.

Please join in the poll and I would love to read your comments on what impacts you think the financial crisis will have on the planning of your holiday next year.

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11 responses to “Financial crisis affecting consumers holiday plans”

Miss Expatria | 19 October, 2008 at 10:46 am

I voted “yes,” as it will affect me positively. With the dollar getting stronger, we finally have the money to travel!

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Karen | 19 October, 2008 at 11:02 am

I answered ‘no’ because we have not been able to afford a holiday in years. But just maybe if the credit crunch gets worse we will be able to buy a house and then have a holiday. Currenty people are still holiding out for lastyesrs house prices.

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Murray Harrold | 19 October, 2008 at 11:25 am

The overseas holiday has always been good value. I believe you may see adjustment of prices to more realistic levels, which arguably may be no bad thing. Holidays in the UK are wonderful, I really enjoy Torquay (Yes, I do!) or the Devon coast, the Lake District is fantastic – the only thing is that hols at home can be pricey, very pricey.

You can always get a shed at Camber Sands (er… sorry, “mobile home”) and believe it or not, despite the image, Butlins, Pontins. Haven et al are really very, very good with kids. In my youth (Father William..) one really looked forward to a week at Blackpool in the caravan.

Let us remember, no-one has a God given right to a holiday – cheap or otherwise – it is a feature of life since the late 1950′s or perhaps ’60′s – perhaps a good dose of Hop Picking in Kent may bring people down to earth a bit!

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Debo Hobo | 19 October, 2008 at 2:28 pm

Fortunately it is only me so my expenses are already low. But I still set a budget and if a vacation cost me more than $1000 then I’m not going.

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Ad | 19 October, 2008 at 9:27 pm

I voted no, because my income isn’t being affected by the “economic crisis”. I actually plan to travel more next year for business. For now I’ve noticed flight costs have been going up, but there are still deals to be had if you are flexible on rates. I just booked got a great deal on a flight to Vegas coming up, probably a reflection on the dropping oil prices.

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Kevin May | 19 October, 2008 at 10:49 pm

Murray is right. Travel consumers have had it pretty good for quite a while, this is a natural correction on the marketplace – albeit in a painful way – which will see the true price of a holiday/trip.

There has been too much capacity for a start, but now that consolidation amongst the big providers has taken place, and the amount of stock stripped down to a more realistic level, we will see significant change.

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Dan Roberts | 20 October, 2008 at 9:45 am

I think the global economic environment will be have a positive spinoff for NZ, Australian and South American backpacking industry.

Better purchasing power (AUD has plummeted relative to traditional backpacking currencies)
Lower employment straight after education encourages backpacking
Resilience of backpacker market
Lower possible airfares

I wrote a post with these thoughts a few days ago for those interested: http://xebidy.com/2008/10/why-new-zealand-and-australia-backpacking-will-benefit-from-economy-downturn/

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James Penman | 20 October, 2008 at 10:19 am

Couldn’t agree more with the ‘Promote Britain’ (or the UK) section of your post. The UK’s packed with amazing attractions and locations and we simply don’t shout out about them sufficiently. Over 20 UNESCO World Heritage Sites, dozens of National Parks and AONBs, world-class cities etc, etc.

Oh, and @ Murray Harrold, I live in Dartmoor National Park and confrim that Torquay and the Tor Bay area are wonderful There’s a great view from a Napoleonic Fort at Brixham looking back across the bay!

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Lifecruiser | 20 October, 2008 at 11:20 am

I answered no since I don’t think I’ll be that much affected by the financial crises. I have the possibility to be flexible which helps of course. I might change destinations, but that happens all the time even for other reasons.

We have about the same situation in Sweden, not promoting our country enough, but it’s on the way up though. Another thing which has made Swedes (and maybe Brits too?) not exploring their own country enough, is the fact that many times it’s cheaper to go abroad than to have a domestic vacation. Which is totally crazy….

Oh, and I have to add: the weather. Swedes hates bad weather and I suspect this goes for a lot of Brits too, so we have the weather against us!

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Darren Cronian | 21 October, 2008 at 12:32 pm

@ Lifecruiser

Yes, I think your spot on where the weather is concerned. It’s probably why alot of people don’t want to stay at home on holiday in Britain. I wrote yesterday about the north and south divide, and the main problem is our weather up north is colder than down south, but that shouldn’t stop the government investing in tourism up north.

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