Top five travel worries for consumers during the recession
By Darren Cronian on Tuesday, April 14th, 2009

Both ABTA (via Travel Weekly) and Travolution published their top five worries for the travel industry last week, so this weekend I penned down what I thought were five travel worries for consumers during the recession and I welcome your thoughts and opinions in the comments section.

Top five travel worries for consumers during the recession

Independent agencies pushed out of business

From experience independent travel agencies provide better customer service and try harder to provide a good service, so while I cannot see this happening I am worried if during this recession we start to see more independent travel agencies struggle and end up in administration.

Increase in Air Passenger Duty

The government are being hypocrites in that they are supposedly increasing APD to help the environment, then they give permission to extend Heathrow, increasing the number of flights. Another increase will mean fewer families will be able to travel, and I believe travel is an important part of any child’s education.

Complicated financial protection

Consumers are already confused about the role of ABTA, ATOL etc so the decision by the likes of Travel Republic to create their own financial protection is a worry to me. It would make life easier if financial protection was under the umbrella of one organisation, so consumers knew if ABC company was ATOL bonded, their holiday would be protected.

Increase in service charges

Long gone are the days where you book a flight or hotel and you pay a one-off rate. As the airline and travel industry struggle to keep their heads above the water, I do worry that we’ll see more and more ridiculous service charges added on to the price of our flights, hotels, and holidays.

Staffing cuts affecting quality of service

Reduce staffing numbers and you are going to see a cut in the quality of service. This could result in more companies only offering online booking and dropping telephone booking or close high-street shops, many consumers still need the personal touch.

Please feel free to discuss.


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10 responses to “Top five travel worries for consumers during the recession”

Wally | 14 April, 2009 at 9:08 pm

I’ve found that the checked-bag fee that many airlines are charging now has made space inside the plane much more valuable. Getting on the plane early is now the thing to do, as only about 50 percent of the people on my typical Detroit to NYC flights will find space for their carry-on once on board.

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Margaret Leach | 15 April, 2009 at 4:34 am

Increase in service charges: obviously this is tending to happen in the airline industry but I have not seen any sign of it with hotels. It should actually be the reverse: more services for the same money, to give consumers better value compared with competitors.

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Rob | 15 April, 2009 at 8:48 am

I hope we don’t see an increase in APD or other flight taxes.
There is a golden opportunity for UK inbound tourism to capitalise on the current low value of the pound so let’s not stuff it up.
I note that “environmental” flight taxes have been introduced and swiftly taken away again in Denmark, Sweden and Holland over the last few years.

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Simon | 16 April, 2009 at 10:13 am

I have to say, I’m personally very worried about how holidaymaker quality and choice is going to be affect, not least with the value of the pound against the euro squeezing European B&B proprietors (amongst others) but also the price competition from major hotel and holiday accommodation chains.

The landscape is changing, but I also believe that it might be the shake up the industry needs in order to really sort the companies that have developed an emotional connection with their customers (through excellent customer service, marketing or a truly note worthy products), otherwise we (as consumers and business owners) won’t have learnt anything of real value from the downtown.

What does everyone else think about this?

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Twenga | 16 April, 2009 at 1:37 pm

I hope de APD don’t increase, the flights are already pretty expensive!

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Slam | 16 April, 2009 at 4:45 pm

I think staffing cuts affecting quality of service shouldn’t be recession related. Frequent customers of the US legacies will mostly agree quality of service is going down the loo no matter the economic situation.

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Mike Peach | 16 April, 2009 at 5:32 pm

Totally agree with your quote:

Another increase will mean fewer families will be able to travel, and I believe travel is an important part of any child’s education.

Yet the government takes this educational opportunity away from millions of children by forcing parents to travel only at peak holiday times when the costs are double or treble.

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Clive | 8 May, 2009 at 2:32 pm

Darren
Sorry but your concerns about ADP are specious. There is no right to fly. Everyone can have a perfectly pleasant and educational holiday in this country or take a ferry.

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Darren Cronian | 8 May, 2009 at 2:38 pm

@ Clive

If we all stayed at home or travelled by ferry would that not put a lot of travel companies out of business?

I take your point, but, I would personally feel better if I knew that the money was actually going to help the environment, but I am pretty sure that it isnt.

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Simon | 8 May, 2009 at 3:28 pm

@Clive @Darren,

They are interesting points you’ve both raised, and while I agree that the UK offers superb choice for holidays, the ‘environmental’ impact is a little more cloudy.

I remember reading this page on the Friends of the earth website (http://www.foe.org/air-and-water/ferries-and-ports) which talks about the need for ferries to be more environmentally friendly, and when considering how fuel intensive travel can be (taxis, hire car, ferries, planes, boats, jetskis) it really starts to add up.

I’ve not even mentioned air conditioning and the use of water in swimming pools and showers… this all adds up to a real cost to the environment. This is probably for another blogpost, but it does raise some interesting issues.

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