The Budget and Holidaymakers

Last Wednesday was, of course, the budget. I have desisted a quick response because there is usually something lurking that takes a while to ferret out but so far those with more financial nous than me haven't spotted more to affect tourists than those below.
To listen to the industry you would have thought it was terrible because the chancellor did nothing about Advanced Passenger Duty (APD), and the tax rises he announced some time ago. The chancellor didn't rescind the tax which is what the industry had been hoping so the rise forecast for November will still go ahead. That means on a short haul flight the APD will rise to £11 (and from 2010, £12) If you go to the US it will rise to £40 (2010 £60) and to somewhere like Australia or New Zealand it will be be £85 in 2010. If you fly business class then next year the rise could be as much as £170.
Dermot Blastland of Thomson Holidays pointed out that by 2010, a family going to the Caribbean could end up by paying an additional £600 in taxes and Mark Tanzer of ABTA pointed out that APD generates £2 billion for the exchequer.
So the taxes for flyers that had already been announced stay in place.
The change that hadn't been expected will hit those people who have second homes which they make available for holiday lets in the UK. At the moment they get tax breaks but these will disappear from next April. This is expected to affect about 100,000 people Some doom laden forcasters are saying that this will force down house prices still further. Conversely, those having holiday homes abroad which they let will be entitled to claim retrospectively the same sort of tax breaks until the phasing out next April.
As usual with the budget, some you win and some you lose but the person who wins the most is always the chancellor!

So We Are Going Abroad for Easter: Why?

According to the Association of British Travel Agents (ABTA), 2 million people are heading overseas for the Easter break. There are two important facts beneath this headline.
The first is that there has been a large last minute booking rush by people so those people who have been saying that, more than ever this year, we are leaving it till the last minute appear to be right. Will this happen for summer holidays as well? For those of us who haven’t booked for summer yet, it means we have to consider how late we can leave it given that tour operators have cut back on the number of holidays available.
The second point is that this figure of 2 million means that more people are going abroad than last year. But we are in a recession. Shouldn’t the numbers be down?
There are some possible answers. It could be that people are taking a short break rather than a longer holiday this year and summer figures could dip. It could be that the need for a holiday has become so important to many of us that we will do what we have to get that holiday. A holiday then has become a bit like Charlie Brown’s blanket from the cartoon strip, Snoopy;- it’s a bit of security in an odd world. Another thought I have is that maybe this recession is bottoming or people can see the way out of it. Finally, the recession is not hitting some people as much as the media might have us believe.
We are going to places where the pound has not fared so badly against the local currency; Turkey, Egypt, Tunisia and Cuba are in the top of the lists but so are Spain and the Canaries. But Spain and the Canaries are euro areas. The “experts” are saying that numbers will be down in euro countries. So how do we explain that? Two possible answers come to mind. The first is that such a lot of go there that even a largish dip would still leave it in a top position and the second is that people are determined to have a break in a place they know will give almost guaranteed sunshine despite the increase in costs. There is another answer; as I said earlier, people can see the way out of the recession or it isn’t as bad as it seems.
Whatever the answer, ABTA members have 5,900 travel agencies throughout the country and that covers a heck of a lot of people. If they say that’s what happening, it is. This isn’t an industry fudge to talk up travel

Summer Holidays Rush Begins?

With travel agencies opening for the first day after Christmas traditionally, today, begins the big booking period for summer holidays. Its cold across most of the country but dry on the whole and it will be bright.
Why the weather forecast?
Generally if it is raining, snowing or the weather is miserable then summer holiday bookings increase. The milder and nicer the weather, the sages tell us, the lower the bookings.
Just before Christmas, ABTA and the Foreign Office released the results of a survey of 2,018 adults which said the top destinations that people were looking at were in Turkey and Egypt. The UK doesn't seem to be at the top of their list but I would have thought that the economic downturn and the weakness of the pound would make the UK attractive this year. At least you know how much your money will buy come the holiday.
And overseas?
Well both Turkey and Egypt are outside the eurozone so the pound hasn't slid so far against their currencies. Others suggested by the survey include Cuba, Croatia, Mexico and the Caribbean. I would have thought you could also add destinations that offer all-inclusive holidays wherever they might be. People will want to know that they have budgetted for virtually all their holiday spend. Already in November (for which the latest figures are available) Spain has had quite a downturn in tourist numbers and it could be that in order to try and attract more tourists there may be Spanish bargains. Remember though that with the demise of so many tour operators and ther mergers of First Choice with Thomsons and MyTravel with Thomas Cook that there will be fewer holidays around this summer.
Today and tomorrow the newspapers will be filled with holiday adverts to lure you to their destinations and into travel agancies. We will keep an eye on them and let you know early next week what we find.

Compensation Schemes for Travellers

There have been a number of high profile collapses this year amongst them XL, Zoom, Online Travel Group and Fitura. The ABTA bonding scheme means that if you book your accommodation and flight together through an ABTA bonded travel agent you are protected. If you book them separately, you aren't.
If you pay for your flight, your accommodation, your car hire by a credit card (not debit card) then the credit card company assists.
But if you pay by debit card, bank transfer, cheque or even that disappearing commodity, cash, you are largely on your own.
When XL went bust, because of its sheer size (it provided hundred of thousands of holidays and flights each year) people cried out saying that there should be a compensation scheme for people who book their flights and accommodation separately. Since that time there has been a deafening silence. With the key booking period coming up just after Christmas, there isn't much time to reassure next years' holidaymakers. It could be that I haven't heard of these moves. If that is the case then let them be made known.
On the other hand, the city solicitors, Lovells, are in discussion with 10 major insurance institutions to set up a compensation scheme for those caught up in terorist attacks.. A worthy development but terrorism attacks occur less frequently than airlines or hotels going bust.It almost seems that, at the moment, this scheme will be up and running before a ccompensation scheme for those who book their holidays in separate bits.
And what about holidaymakers who book a holiday in the UK. Are they covered if their hotel or guesthouse goes into liquidation? Or their week on a touring coach? The only protection there is, it seems to me,is that you get when you pay by credit card.



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