| The massive growth in online travel agents and | | | | were creating a tailor-made break, choosing the |
| price comparison websites has caused great | | | | cheap flights that suited them and matching them |
| distress to their more traditional, high street-based | | | | up with cheap accommodation in the destination |
| competitors. The likes of Thomas Cook and | | | | of their choice. |
| Thomson are being challenged on their home turf | | | | To the traditional travel agents, this inevitably |
| by the enormous increase in the amount of cheap | | | | posed a real and present threat. The costs and |
| flights and budget holiday accommodation easily | | | | overheads associated with a visible high street |
| available on the Internet. | | | | presence are considerable in themselves, but |
| The advent of the credit crunch and the resulting | | | | maintaining a network of dedicated resorts and |
| global economic downturn, led to many people | | | | the means to get customers to them is also |
| looking afresh at their household budget and | | | | expensive. In most cases, old-style travel agents |
| changing the shopping and leisure habits of a | | | | simply cannot compete with the more streamlined |
| lifetime. Grocery shopping increasingly took place | | | | online alternatives. |
| at the cheaper supermarkets and marketing | | | | Package holidays are also more vulnerable to the |
| campaigns for the supermarkets changed to | | | | effects of currency fluctuations than the individual |
| reflect this. The holiday habits of UK households | | | | cheap flights and accommodation available on the |
| changed as well, with people looking to save | | | | Internet. With so many high street travel agents |
| money without sacrificing their much-needed | | | | tied to resorts in the EU, the increase in the |
| holidays. | | | | strength of the euro has been bad news for |
| They were greatly helped in this with the march | | | | them, as UK holidaymakers decide against a |
| of the budget airlines, offering cheap flights to | | | | fortnight on the Continent and opt instead for |
| short and medium-haul destinations that had | | | | short European city breaks and a "main" holiday |
| previously been out of the price range of many | | | | outside the Eurozone, such as the increasingly |
| people. When these low fares were combined | | | | popular destinations of Turkey and Egypt. Such |
| with the ease of Internet searching and price | | | | shifts have been easily accommodated by the |
| comparison, they led to significant savings for | | | | providers of cheap flights - especially the low-cost |
| hard-pressed families. They also caused a shift in | | | | airlines, who have added a host of medium-haul |
| the way people planned their holidays. Whereas | | | | routes to destinations such as Turkey, Morocco |
| before you would book a package holiday and let | | | | and Croatia. |
| the travel agent sort everything out, now people | | | | |