Last-minute holiday bookings puts heat on travel agents

HOLIDAYMAKERS can grab a bargain break in the sun for as little as €139 as travel agents slash prices to offload thousands of unsold holidays.

Agents are under pressure from the growing popularity of do-it-yourself holidays, as consumers book their own flights and accommodation with airlines and hotels over the internet.

Holiday-makers who still prefer traditional travel agents are also adding to the firms’ woes by booking their holidays late, knowing that prices will fall as their departure date draws closer.

High street agents such as Panorama and Falcon are now offering holidays as low as €205 for a fortnight in Majorca, Spain and €139 for a week in the Algarve in Portugal with deals including flights and accommodation.

Travel consultant John G O’Dwyer said high street travel agents were facing an increasingly competitive market when selling package holidays to sunspots like Spain.

“Travel has grown hugely in popularity, but what has happened is that the number of package holidays being sold has stuck at about one million a year for the last seven or eight years. So it’s not an expanding market for travel agents even though you would expect it to be so with a growing population that’s better off financially,” he said.

Within 10 years, travel agents have lost their lucrative status as monopoly suppliers of package holidays to the public as a result of changing tastes and the internet, he said.

Instead of booking their two-week summer holidays in winter and paying up front, consumers now take more short breaks and are booking their own long holidays directly with airlines and hotels.

“Basically holiday-makers are cutting out the middle-men and this has become a problem for travel agents who are now faced with a more chaotic holiday market,” he said.

Agents used to operate in a market where they were certain of how many holidays they would sell in advance and how much money they would get.

But since travel agents started offering steep discounts on last-minute holidays, consumers have become savvy to the savings they could make by waiting.

“Travel agents have already paid for the seats and hotel rooms in advance so they sell off unsold holidays at low prices so they at least make some money — and consumers are taking advantage of this,” Mr O’Dwyer said.

A snap Irish Examiner survey of last-minute deals from travel agents reveals among the bargains with Sunway are a week in Morocco from €149 per person, and a week in Tunisia for €159, again including flights and accommodation.

The Irish version of the lastminute.com website is selling a week’s holiday in Almeria, Spain, for €154 and a seven-night break in Faro, Portugal, for €144 — equivalent to the price of a mid-range mobile phone.

Travel agents say they are keeping up with consumer preferences by offering online booking as well as the shorter breaks holiday-makers are taking outside the traditional high season.