Choppy Waters for the UK Travel Industry

The travel industry of Great Britain has definitely been taking a great beating. The year 2010 alone has been a very rough time for the industry. First, it was the series of strikes by the British Airways crew that made a major dent in revenues. Even nature did its bit. The volcanic eruption in Iceland and the subsequent ash cloud led to losses running into millions of pounds. The fragile state of the industry is being reflected in the way travel companies are going bust like a row of dominoes. This is spelling further trouble for the industry as people are getting apprehensive about booking flights to India and other similar long haul holidays.

In the latest event of a travel company going bust, it was the turn of Kiss Flights, a low cost carrier operating flights to Canary Islands, Egypt, Greece, and Turkey. This incident follows on the heels of the collapse of the Birmingham-based Sun4U, which stranded hundreds of travellers in Spain. Naturally, an alarmist sentiment is seeping in the customer psyche. After all, let’s say that you plan to visit Delhi for the Commonwealth Games and travel further to beach destinations like Goa and Kerala or electrifying cities like Mumbai and Kolkata, the last thing you would want is that your tour operator goes bust.

Although, it’s being reported that quite a few travel companies are likely to collapse in the future, one can’t stop booking holidays altogether. One simply has to be wiser. For instance, the next time you book your holidays, make sure that your tour operator and the specific tour package you buy are covered by ATOL. It’s a matter of time before the industry gets its act together. It remains to be seen, how long does it take for the come around.