What Is the Future of Packaged Vacations After Thomas Cook’s Collapse?
Photo Credit: TUI customers enjoy a beach holiday. The tour operator favors packaged holidays but has tweaked its model over the years. TUI Group
Skift Take
Package holidays are changing and under pressure, but in markets such as the UK, Germany, China, and Canada, these offline options still have their place. Failure to adapt was a contributing factor in Thomas Cook's demise, but there were a whole bunch of other things going on as well.
In the wake of Thomas Cook's demise, if you think that the package holiday business is "screwed, it's over," as Ryanair boss Michael O'Leary believes, then you'd be wrong.
At least, that's the case in two very important European outbound markets, the UK and Germany, where package holidays still have a solid foothold. In Asia, package holidays still have a substantial grip in China, as well, for example.
Sure, traditional tour operator package holidays, mostly sold offline and featuring set combinations of flights and hotels, are facing pressure from the growth of online travel agencies and their dynamic packages, where travelers have more flexibility to choose from a variety of flights and hotels.
The propensity by consumers to book online and directly with low-cost carriers or hotels is altering both models.
But offline vacation packages, if not the dominant way to book vacations, are holding their own in certain markets. Although Thomas Cook acknowledged that it had weak
