The Changing ‘Habits’ Of A Nation

The holidaymaking public in the United Kingdom have constantly sought out new destinations, that were usually further and further afield -and usually at the lowest possible price.

            What started off with 36-seat piston engined airliners that took a day just to reach Corsica in the 1960s had evolved into 119 seater jets in the 1960s. These machines could ranger further afield much more quickly, and while the western Mediterranean was the early destination with the piston-engined aircraft, with the jets the eastern Mediterranean came within range.

            The boom in leisure air travel brought forth demands to get more passengers out and to keep the price low - Efficiencies of scale meant larger aircraft - so the short-range BAC 1-11s and early model Boeing 737-200s were replaced with Boeing 707s for long haul and Boeing 757s, 767s and TriStars.

            The number of passengers carried per trip may have gone up dramatically - after all, a Britannia Airways 737-200 carried around 136 passengers whereas an Air 2000 757 carried 236 - but the aerodynamics of the aircraft put weight restrictions on many of the smaller airports they could use.

            This was not a problem for the UK operators, as the market was changing - there was less interest in the Mediterranean - The Red Sea area and further afield beckoned. Aircraft like the 757 and 767 were perfectly capable of flying that distance. And with the use of ETOPS - Extended-range Twin-engine Operational Performance Standards -  trans-Atlantic and trans-Pacific flights with twin engined aircraft were allowed.

      Improvements in aerodynamics and flight control computerisation - especially with the A320 family - saw a greater number of passengers carried into the smaller airports.

     It was here that UK operators began to diverge from some of their northern European neighbours. In the UK it tended to be ‘get em out - get em back’ - in other words, direct flight out, direct flight back.

      Some of the Dutch, Belgian and Scandinavian charter airlines had other ideas - they were prepared to fly multi-sector flights. For example, Transavia of Holland and Thomas Cook Belgium flew from Amsterdam and Brussels respectively into Omiros National Airport on the Greek island of Chios.  From here they flew to either Samos, Lesvos or Thessaloniki before departing back to their home airport.

     With all these changes - and the introduction of e-commerce on the internet - the holiday companies foisted a whole raft of subtle ‘revisions’ on to the travelling public. Printed, hard-copy holiday brochures have almost become a thing of the past, they are all now websites - as are the High Street Travel Agents.

     By all accounts, the traditional ‘Inclusive Tour’ holiday has all but become a thing of the past - it has evolved into the ‘All Inclusive’ deal.

     But isn’t ‘All Inclusive’ the same as ‘Inclusive Tour’? No, not at all.  An ‘Inclusive Tour’  got you out to your destination, and made things easier for the traveler by providing ‘reps’ who knew the local area, and provided transport to and from the accommodation from your destination airport. Once there, you were ‘free’ - if you could resist the sales pitches from the Reps - to do as little or as much additional ‘arranged’ activities as you wished. ‘All Inclusive’ on the other hand is totally different.

            As a typical e-brochure describes: ‘With an All Inclusive holiday, all of your food and drink is included in the price, so you won't have to fork out to enjoy dinner. You'll also find that most hotel activities and entertainment are included too. So from the day you arrive to your flight home, you can indulge in as much or as little as you like. Some of the activities available include windsurfing, kayaking, cycling, and tennis. For those quieter days you can enjoy the likes of movies, dance shows and cookery demonstrations. And the best bit? It's all included in the price.

            Our All Inclusive holidays are ideal for anyone looking for a break from their wallets, especially if you're travelling as a group or family. And with top destinations across the globe to choose from, you'll soon see why...

            For full details of what's included in your All inclusive holiday, check the hotel description.

Why choose an All inclusive holiday package?

            ▪            Unlimited local alcoholic drinks

            ▪            All meals

            ▪            Snacks, soft drinks, tea and coffee

            ▪            Activities and entertainment’

As the UK travel tour industry says, they are just responding to the demands of the tourist market - everything the holidaymaker could need is arranged for and provided within the price.  But think about it - they say you can do as little or as much as you please - and that clearly includes drinking and eating, so the ‘price’ must be set at at least some form of average that provides them with a profit. Drink, eat and use the facilities lower than this esoteric ‘average’ and you are paying over the odds and putting even more into their coffers.

      On the face of it, ‘All Inclusives’ are just an extension of the vertical integration concept Tom Gullick of Clarksons pioneered back in the early 1970s taken to the extreme. Clarksons and Court Line owned the airline that took holidaymakers out to the Spain and Caribbean where they stayed in group owned hotels, eating food provided by group owned farms in group owned restaurants and carried around on group owned coaches!

     Clearly, there is market demand for all inclusives: we all want holidays and in the current difficult economic times, all-inclusives offer  the opportunity to feel assured that we can afford such a holiday. When evaluated from the customers’ perspective, the guarantee of a fixed travel budget is understandable. By choosing all-inclusive travel packages, tourists know they are in safe hands and there will be a quality product for a manageable price. Operators can enhance their control over the quality of the end product, and hotels can increase their efficiency and predictability of demand.

     Indeed, tour operator First Choice, part of TUI, switched all its holidays to all-inclusive. Thomas Cook reportedly increased the number of all inclusives holidays it offered by 10%. But what does the emergence of the all-inclusive model, where tourists are invited to ‘...leave their wallets at home’, mean for the destinations we visit?

     The words of the marketing men  ‘leaving your wallet at home’ does not sit well with many local economies. The phrase was coined by Johan Lundgren, the UK and Ireland managing director of TUI, but has now been disowned. "It was a PR phrase that we used. We don't advertise on that basis. If that's a phrase that we've used before then perhaps that doesn't help with the local area and we need to be mindful of that," said Christian Cull, director of communications for TUI UK and Ireland.

     Today, in 2015, First Choice trade under the banner of the ‘Home of All Inclusive’. But they are by no means the only tour company operating in this manner.

     The effect of the all-inclusives has been felt in many holiday destinations. In Majorca, Spain – all-inclusive holidays were blamed for loss of local businesses. Things got so bad, that in September 2011 local businesses organised a day of protest against the all-inclusive hotels

      On a number of Greek islands open to direct flights from the UK, many local communities claim that the all-inclusives have not only wrecked the local holiday economy, they decimated them! Many Prefectures and hotel associations reported an ever-increasing groundswell of local anger at how not only were the all-inclusives actively discouraging tourists from leaving their gated resorts by keeping the gates closed at all times, they were also shipping in ancillary staff – that is waiters and waitresses, cleaners, maids and the like – for the season from eastern Europe, employing them at rates lower than local wages, thus depriving the local economies of income. There was also indications that bulk buying of food and drink was being made on the mainland and then being trucked over by the container-load instead of being purchased locally.

     In Turkey, there were many reports conveying anger, frustration and distress from mayors and hotel associations describing how they had to succumb to pressure from UK operators to transform their hotels into all-inclusives. Analysis of an all-inclusive Holiday Village in Fethiye, Turkey, found that just 10% of the tourist spend reached the regional economy, with economic benefits to the neighbouring Sarigerme village put at even less. For example, estimated average guest spend in the village shops was put at just one Euro per guest per day according to the BBCs ‘Fast Track’ programme of 2 September 2011.

      Further afield, in Mombasa, Kenya, the World Bank stated all-inclusive beach holidays contributed the least economic benefit. In Jamaica – all-inclusive hotels attracted tourists in the short term but blocked development of other types of tourism. In the Dominican Republic there were numerous reports that all-inclusive holidays were blamed for restaurant closures and increased negative attitude towards tourists. In Goa, India there were reports of ‘enclave tourism’, where local taxis and guides were losing business to all-inclusive resorts.

     There is a whole raft of hidden dangers where local economies can suffer: for example, tipping is an important source of revenue for people working in the hospitality business but the ‘leaving your wallet at home’ all-inclusive business model results in fewer tips and therefore reduced income for many workers.

     Other local businesses, such as restaurants, shops, taxi drivers and small guest houses, all lose out to the all-inclusive model, as guests are deterred from leaving the hotel or complex grounds. In some destinations, countless businesses have been forced to close, which in turn deters other tourists holidaying on bed and breakfast packages, as the destination has less to offer. Local entrepreneurs from Spain, Greece and Cyprus, from The Gambia to Kenya, and from St. Lucia to Jamaica have all complained of being unable to run their businesses any longer because the footfall of tourists coming out of the all-inclusives is so low.

     All-inclusives can alienate tourists from the destination they are visiting and the people who live there. This can hamper positive cultural exchange, while allowing resentment to build amongst local people who are blocked from being able to benefit from the tourism economy. This can lead to a vicious circle, in which tourism harassment levels increase - itself an issue that is frequently capitalised upon by the hotels themselves - which in turn further deters people from leaving the hotels.

     Then, following the General Election in Greece in January 2015, the new  left-wing  Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras appeared to declare war  on the country’s all-inclusive resorts.

     All-you-can-eat buffets and unlimited drinks by the pool are under threat as Alexis Tsipras, leader of the triumphant anti-austerity party Syriza, believes such deals ‘alienate tourists from the local economy’ by keeping them in resorts and away from small businesses. He has promised to curb the type of mass tourism that Greece has developed in the last few decades despite that sector of tourism brings in £1.5billion a year for the Greek economy.

     Deals to sell public land to mega-resort developers could be banned and VAT rules are likely to be changed to hit existing holiday developments with higher taxes. Mr Tsipras said: ‘We do not want to continue the current saturated model of intensive exploitation of tourism.’

     The new regime says it does not support an outright ban, but wants to encourage a move away from the all-inclusive resorts back to the traditional holiday model where visitors use local bars, restaurants and attractions.

     Michalis Kritsotakis, the Syriza MP responsible for the party’s tourism policy, told The New York Times: ‘For the all-inclusive, our view, as well as that of the tourism industry, is that it’s not the best thing.’

The Association of British Travel Agents said this would drive holidaymakers to other Mediterranean countries. A spokesman said: ‘The Greek government will have to consider the impact of any restrictions. All-inclusive holidays continue to grow in popularity, particularly amongst the family market. The Greeks should consider that they might risk losing this slice of the holiday market to other countries such as Turkey and Egypt. Even though all-inclusives can be seen as a controversial option, there are pros and cons and many all-inclusives are a vital source of employment for local people, both directly and indirectly.’

Any changes made by the new Government will not affect the cost of package holidays that are currently being advertised by British tour operators as the contracts and prices have already been agreed. 

While this is true, one has to wonder while many travelers loathe the concept of All-Inclusives and all they stand for, one has to ask if legal steps are the right idea, for usually what the market wants, the market usually gets – even if it means going elsewhere.

From the authors unpublished

Sun Seekers!

The story of the United Kingdom’s Holiday Airline Business