Packaged Tours in Winter?
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AS a result of representations by the British Independent Air Transport Association Ltd. to the Air Transport Licensing Board, the Board is to consider written evidence from any person on the general question of the fares charged on inclusive tour services.
The Association believes a large new market could be developed if existing minimum fare restrictions are modified. The high fares set by TATA (the regulating body) for the winter, applying to inclusive tour services operated from the UK, raise the cost of such tours iobitrarily at a time when hotel and aircraft charter rates are at a minimum.
It is in the general interest of operators, and of the country, to promote the habit of winter holidays, contends the Association. "Many members have acute problems with idle fleets and idle staff during winter months" and some are inhibited from fleet replacements by the absence of any prospect of economical
annual \utilization of their equipment.
Such questions as whether any special dispensation should be applied to tours starting from provincial points (for example, equation of the minimum price of the holiday with fares from London to the particular destination rather than from the point of origin) are among the matters upon which written evidence should be submitted to the board not later than January 5, 1966.
The increasing part played by coach operators—who, like the air transport operators, may suffer from underutilized fleets and staff in winter months —suggests that this review, undertaken with the blessing of the Ministry of Aviation, may be as important to surface transport providers as to the air operators.
The address of the Air Transport Licensing Board is: Gaywood House, Great Peter Street, London SW1.
J.D.