Rivals ripping off customers, say Budget Travel
The country’s largest tour operator, Budget Travel, has accused its competition of ripping off consumers by charging “stealth charges” to disguise the true cost of package holidays.
Surcharges imposed by other operators can be as high as €50 per person – increasing the actual cost of a holiday of up to €200 for a family of four, the company has claimed.
“Many operators are now blatantly taking costs out of the core holiday price to make that look lower and then disguising the missing costs as a fuel surcharge,” said Budget Travel’s head of marketing Clem Walshe.
“But given that these surcharges are often set down up to eight months before departure date, there is simply no excuse for tour operators not including the additional levy in the core holiday price.”
Budget Travel maintains that that it has no fuel surcharges applying on any of its holidays.
“Fuel is a key factor in the cost of a holiday and we don’t want to pretend that it's not,” says Walshe. “We’ve bought our fuel ahead so we know the exact costs which will be incurred and those costs won’t change even if oil prices rise in the coming months.
“We think that’s the honest way to deal with the issue. Other tour operators should do the same.”
