The end of the package holiday?

Travellers are turning their backs on traditional beach holidays provided by the leading tour operators, according to a survey from responsibletravel.com. The company is launching a “Had Enough?” campaign that is demanding Thomas Cook, Thomson Holidays and MyTravel develop more responsible tourism practices. Responsibletravel chief executive and co-founder, Justin Francis says the “Big Three” are already losing money because holidaymakers are fed up. He said: “Tourists have already started voting with their feet. MyTravel had pre-tax lossess of £911 million to September 2003 and in the first nine months of 2003 Thomas Cook posted an operating loss of 231 million euros.” Mr Francis says First Choice is not being targetted because it already has a sustainable tourism policy in place including educating its reps and clients about sustainable tourism. The company quotes research from MORI which states that package holidays are declining – it claims that 32% of people are taking “independent holidays” versus 30% on package holidays and 19% going on tailor-made or specialist holidays. Responsibletravel surveyed more than a thousand adults by phone, and found that 88% of respondents think the big holiday companies have a responsibility to preserve the local environment and culture. The survey also identified a “new breed” of traveller who wants a more authentic and experimental travel experience. The survey found that:

• 80% disagree with the statement: “I just want to have fun on holiday; I don’t really care about the locals and their environment”;
• 60% have had enough of crowded beaches on resort-type holidays;
• 57% say too many holidays only offer chips and Sky football in the sun; and
• 60% believe big tour companies “just pump out superficial holidays and it is time they changed.

As part of the “Had Enough?” campaign, Responsibletravel is encouraging people to sign an online petition saying: “I’ve had enough of the way mass tourism tramples over local people and cultures, and damages the environment”, and wants people to tell of their “mass tourism holidays and evidence of environmental degradation and of negative impacts on local people and culture”. The petition is at http://www.responsibletravel.com/hadenough. The campaign will also see the launch of national press advertising and online marketing. Report by Ginny McGrath and Tim Gillett, News From Abroad