Airtours sparks price war over 97 holidays

Airtours marketing director Richard Carrick has fired the first shot in a price war for next year’s holidays.

The move comes as Airtours, which owns the Going Places chain of travel agents, breaks ranks with other operators to launch its brochures for summer 1997 holidays tomorrow (Thursday), two months early.

Holidays for this summer are still on sale. Other holiday companies are following suit, with First Choice beating Airtours by launching yesterday (Tuesday).

Carrick, who recently rejoined Airtours after a brief stint at Forte, says the operator will not be beaten on price. He claims to have discounted next year’s holidays by 13m.

Carrick has also attacked the industry for trying to control customer behaviour “for its own convenience”. He believes holiday companies should start reacting to the needs of the market.

This appears to be an assault on the sector’s attempt to prevent the late booking and heavy discounting which results from overcapacity. These factors led to a disastrous year last year.

The industry voluntarily reduced capacity by 1.5 million holidays (about ten per cent). It agreed last year to withhold the launch of its brochures for summer 1996 until September.

Airtours claims this year’s reduction in capacity has meant one in seven people has been unable to book their first choice holiday.

Rival tour operator Thomson has attacked the move, saying it has no plans to bring its own brochure launch forward from August.