Cheap flights

According to Cheap Flights experts travel agents are struggling to compete against Cheap Flights airlines when it comes to travel and package holidays says in2town Cheap Flights Expert Chantelle Ellis.

Travel Agents on the High Street are struggling to match or even come clear to low cost airline prices that are offered on the net and are relying on their customers and potential customers wanting a package holiday that only they can offer them. For example First Choice have their own holiday villages which you can only go to if you book through First Choice and they also have hotels that you can only stay in if you book through the High Street travel agent.

High Street travel agents are also hoping that their customers do not want the hassle of searching the Internet for a cheap flight and then having to find a hotel when their local high street travel agent would do all that for them. But what High street travel agents do not understand is, consumers are now becoming more wise to buying their holidays and know that if they book online they can find cheaper flights and hotels making their holiday much more affordable and in some cases making them a saving of up to £1,000 for a family of four.

Prices with the High Street travel agents for package holidays is set to increase for 2010 even though we are suffering a credit crunch and this has through our survey found that more and more consumers who normally booked their holidays through the high street travel agents will now be seeking their holidays online to save money.

Diane Walker deputy editor of In2town Lifestyle Magazine has been comparing First Choice holidays to cheap flights and hotels booked separately through the internet and have found that on the majority of holidays that are booked separate through the internet are coming out cheaper which is bad news to First Choice one of the biggest high street travel agents.

As well as comparing First Choice Holidays to holidays to the same destinations and the same hotel rating which most of the time come out cheaper; we have also found that the holiday prices with First Choice have increased in price that is totally unacceptable.

The leading Holiday village with First Choice, Costa Del Sol Holiday village has increased by a massive £1,000 for a two-week holiday in March 2010 for a family of four compared to the same holiday in March 2009.

According to a customer service representative, the reason for the huge increase is down to the Euro which In2town Lifestyle Magazine are finding it very hard to believe.

A Source at First Choice said “It is true our prices have increased this year compared to last year which has resulted in the Euro exchange rate not being a great friend of the travel industry at the moment and these price rises have had to be passed onto our customers which has resulted in a lot of our customers going elsewhere for their holiday. “

As a result of comparing Holidays with First Choice and looking at booking cheap flights, and also Hotel Accommodation separately, we decided to ask 100 people who travel abroad if the price increase with travel agents has affected the way they book their holiday.

65% of the People we surveyed said that they no longer use a High Street Travel agent and instead book their holidays online where they save a great deal of money and have a wider choice of hotels.

35% said they still use their travel agent and would not consider booking online in fear of the company going bust.

Out of the 35% we found that 21% are still booking with a high street travel agent because of the friendly customer service that they offer and they can pop into their high street travel agent if they need to make any changes compared to the Internet.

Our survey shows that the trend for booking holidays online is increasing with more and more people looking to save money by booking separate flights and hotels, which in turn is bad news for the High Street Travel Agents. in2town reported online.