The Holidays4U Feeding Frenzy

The collapse this week of Brighton, UK-based budget tour operator Holidays4U has left over 50,000 and holidaymakers scrambling for alternative deals and according to Gerard Brown, International Tourism Development Director at UBM Aviation, other airlines and tour operators have already begun fighting for this additional traffic. Like most business in this sector, Holidays4U has had a challenging first half to the year. The company also traded under Aegean Flights and had specialised in offering discount holiday packages to the resorts around Bodrum and Dalaman in Turkey using the flight capacity of charter carrier Onur Air.

“There is practically 100 per cent chance that the Holidays4U passengers will rebook with another travel company,” explains Brown. “I don’t think there will be much of the ‘will they or won’t they book’ dilemma that we have seen before with recent collapses, the vast majority will find an alternative option.”

In fact a simple search on google immediately highlights how other tour operators are fighting for this custom. If you type in the term ‘Holidays4U’ in the search, your answers will be displayed with header banners from Thomson, A1Travel and Travel Republic, accompanied by side bar adverts from Onthebeach, Thomas Cook, Low Cost Holidays and Jet2.com, all directly targeting Holidays4U clients.

“It appears the feeding frenzy of the Holidays4U carcass is beginning, with tour operators and travel agents circling with intent,” said Brown. “Don’t be surprised to see the low-cost carriers also coming out with campaigns to entice these bookers with some superb value trips which will allow Holidays4U victims to potentially save on flights and spend more once in resorts.

When you think about the number of people inconvenienced by the holiday firm’s closure it is sometimes hard to remember that business is a cut-throat world and why shouldn’t some attempt to benefit from the failings of others. In a distinctly poor year for the UK travel industry it may be the only thing that will stop one or two other companies from the following the same route as Holidays4U.

The table below highlights the current scheduled flights on offer between the UK and the Turkish cities of Bodrum and Dalaman, Holidays4U’s two main markets. easyJet, Jet2.com and Monarch Airlines serve the two locations with a total of 60 weekly flights from 12 different airports and are sure to have seen a spike in bookings during the past few days - an unexpected growth in traffic that will help them enhance their own yields.

Gareth Williams, Chief Executive Officer of flight comparison site Skyscanner sympathised with the tens of thousands of holidaymakers whose plans have been spoiled by the demise of Holidays 4U but noted that flight searches to Turkey more than doubled in the aftermath of the of specialist holiday firm’s collapse. “Demand for flights to Turkey has shot up by 111% following the announcement as travellers attempt to salvage their ruined holidays,” he said. “Brits are being squeezed hard financially this year and don’t want to give up on the holiday they’ve looked forward to and paid for. Rather than lose the whole holiday some are obviously considering buying additional flights, if they can get a good deal.”

But, it is not all about Turkey and other tourism organisations across the Mediterranean and even as far as Egypt, a destination that has faced its own troubles during the first half of the year, could see a rise in demand as capacity to Turkey fills.