On-line travel specialist loveholidays.com has reported a surge in package holiday bookings to European hotpots as travellers make the most fantastic offers available. The new findings come hot off the heels of a report from industry regulator ABTA which suggested that this summer there was a rise of virtually 50% in package holidays booked. ABTA’s figures show that nearly half (48%) of these who booked an overseas holiday in 2012 booked a package holiday, up 6% from 2011 and 11% on 2010.
Commenting at the increase, loveholidays.com CEO Alex Francis said: “Holidaymakers often find that organising a visit independently is a risky business. Problems can range from travellers being hit by hidden charges from so called low-cost airlines through to a scarcity of protection against weather and other unforeseeable factors.”
In April 2013 loveholidays.com launched ‘flight plus hotel packages.’ This new format enables holidaymakers to create a tailored package including flights, accommodation, selection of departure date and preferred airline all in accordance with individual requirements. loveholidays.com then ‘package this up’ ensuring travellers are fully protected by the company’s ATOL license.
loveholidays.com latest figures show a rise in sales to many popular destinations inside the last year. Spain is the most important success story with a 75% year on year sales growth followed by Tunisia at 54.3%, Balearic Islands at 31.8% and Turkey with 22.4% increase.
Francis continues: ‘Economic problems in a number of our most advantageous destinations is creating very cheap in-resort prices, meaning package holidays are again offering consumers fantastic value for money. These coupled with the terror that holidays booked independently bring an entire set of problems from loss of protection to excessive flight costs, is having an instantaneous effect at the increase fashionable for package holidays.
‘Since the launch of our flight plus hotel packages we have got been astonished by the variety of customers tailor making their very own holidays. We suspect it’s as a result of independent travellers still finding that this sort of holiday suits their every need with the added assurance that they’re fully protected from the unknown.’