Package Holidays

A holiday is the time of year when you want to "recharge the batteries" and relax whilst having enjoyable time with your partner, family or friends. The perfect type of holiday which helps you to do this is a Package Holiday, but what is a package holiday, when did they begin and how do you book one? Here, we explain the definition and a brief history of a Package Holiday.

What is a Package Holiday?

A package holiday is a term which describes a holiday that includes transport and accommodation and sold at a single price by a tour organiser or tour operator. Whilst it is possible to have a package holiday staying within the UK, the majority of package holidays sold are to overseas destinations with the most common mode of transport being used is an aircraft. 
 

What Does a Package Holiday Include?

The original mass market package holiday, also known as a package tour, often included more items other than just transport and accommodation within the price such as return transfers between the destination airport and accommodation, a holiday representative (commonly known as the "Holiday Rep") for advice and assistance whilst on holiday, meals & drinks at the accommodation (depending on the board basis), however, these other items do not list as an element which makes up a package holiday. Today, items such as in resort transfers, baggage allowance, in-flight meals and pre-booked seats are all classed as optional extras which normally carry a charge for each element. The traditional "Holiday Rep" is now often replaced with an emergency contact number, although some tour operators including TUI and Jet2Holidays generally include a Rep.
 

Is a Dynamic Package Holiday the Same as a Pacakge Holiday?

A Dynamic Package holiday is a term created within the travel industry where travel agents offer a holiday by booking a flight only and an accommodation only at the same time. The term derives from the fact that the two elements have been "dynamically" put together.

Package holidays are regulated by the UK Government, with the "The Package Travel and Linked Travel Arrangements Regulations 2018" giving the consumer financial protection. This protection includes Dynamic Package Holidays. However, (at the time of writing) consumers who book a flight only and accommodation independently are not covered under these regulations meaning the consumer could lose their money in the event of a company failure. This enhances the benefits of booking a package holiday.
 

The History of a Package Holiday

The first package holiday (as we are accustomed too) was offered by the Horizon Holiday Group in 1950, offering package deals from Gatwick to Corsica followed by holidays to Palma two years later. Thomas Cook offered the very first package tour in July 1841, although this was only a UK holiday by train from Leicester to Loughborough, 11 miles away.

The cheap package holiday industry continued to grow through the 1950's and 1960's with resorts in Spain, Italy, and Switzerland proving popular. However, in the early 1970's the market took a down turn and in August 1974 saw the first major collapse of a package tour operator. Court Line, which traded as Clarkson and Horizon, ceased trading leaving 50,000 holidaymakers overseas after being accused of selling holidays bellow net price. As there was no Government protection for consumers in 1974, the stranded holidaymakers were brought home by Court Line's competitors. Customers with advanced bookings lost their money. Following this incident, the Government set up a Air Travel Trust and now ATOL (Air Travel Organisers Licence) in order to protect the consumer against tour operator failure.

In 1987, Airtours offered their first charter package holidays to the Caribbean which started from £299 followed by charter fly/cruises.

In 1991, we saw the demise of ILG (International Leisure Group) following the drop in demand following the start of the Iraq war. Intasun was the main brand and were the second largest tour operator at the time.

In the mid 2000's, dynamic package holidays were formed by travel agents, as travel agents fort back against the major tour operators, who were offering cheaper prices to consumers to book direct rather than through an agent plus some operators began reducing travel agent commissions.

In 2019, Thomas Cook Travel Group, the UK's oldest travel company and tour operator ceased trading leading to the biggest repatriation since the war.

Package Tour Operators, Past & Present

We have seen a fantastic range of package tour operators over the years. Here is a selection of our favourites...
 

2wentys	Longwood
Abercrombie and Kent	Lowcostholidays
African Safari Club	Mainstreet USA
Airbreak	Malta Direct
Airtours	Manos
Airways	Mark Warner
Anatolian Sky	Med Choice
Argo	Mercury
Aspire	Monarch
Aspro	MyTravel
Atlantic	NAT
Balkan	Neilson
Balkan Tourist	Newmarket
BEA	Next Island
Beachcomber Tours	Novotours
Belleair	Odyssey
Best	Olympic
Bridge Travel Group	Overland
British Airways	Owners Abroad
Canadian Affair	Panorama
Cape Verde Experience	Paris Travel Service
Captivating Cuba	Peltours
Caribtours	PGL
Chevron Air	Portland
Citalia	Premier
Clarksons	President
Classic Collection	Preston
Club 18-30 (aka Club)	Priceright
Club Med	Purevalue
Collette Tours	Purevalue USA
Contiki	Rainbow
Cosmos Holidays	Red Sea Holidays
Cosmos Tourama	Redwing
Cosmos Tours	Regal
Court Line	Riva
Cox & Kings	Riveira
Cresta	Rocket Ski
Crystal Ski	Saga
Cyplon	Scott Dunn
Cypriana	Seguro
Destination Red Sea	Select
Destinology	Siesta
Direct Holidays	Ski Esprit
Discover Egypt	Ski Independence
Dream Holidays	Ski Total
Easyjet Holidays	Ski Val
Ellermann Sunflight	Skibound
Enterprise Holidays	Skiworld
Escapades	Sky Tours
Eurocamp	Sol
Exodus	Somak
Explore!	Sovereign
Falcon	Sunair
First Choice	SunMed
Flying Colours	Sunquest
Freestyle	Sunsail
Funway	Sunseeker Leisure
G Adventures	Sunset Faraway
Gambian Experience	Sunset
Gaytours	Sunspot Tours
Getaway	Suntours
Global	Sunvil
Globespan	Sunways
Gold Medal	Sunworld
Golden Sun	Superbreak Mini Holidays
Goldtrail	Swiss Travel Service
Grecian	The Holiday Place
Hayes and Jarvis	Thomas Cook
HF Holidays	Thomson
Holiday Options	Time Off
Holidays4U	Titan Tours
Horizon	Topdeck
If Only	Tops Ski
Inghams	Trafalgar Tours
Inspirations	Transun
Intasun	Travel 2
International Leisure Group	Travel 4
Intourist	Travel City Direct
Intrepid	Travel Club of Upminster
Italy Skybus	Travelpack
James Villas	Travelscene
Jersey Travel Service	Travelsphere
Jet2Holidays	TUI
Jetsave	Unijet
Jetset	USAirtours
Jetsun	Villmar
Jewel In The Crown	Virgin Sun
JMC	Vision
Just Sunshine	Wendy Wu Tours
Keycamp	Wings OSL
Kuoni	Wings Abroad
Laker Holidays	XL
Lancaster	Yugotours
Leger	Zenith
Libra

 

Which Websites Offer Cheap Package Holidays?

For customers who are looking for an overseas cheap holiday package, Cheekytrip is the perfect place to find and book as all holidays featured in our holiday search are package holidays and regulated under "The Package Travel and Linked Travel Arrangements Regulations 2018" and ATOL protected.

 

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