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In the times of the World Wide Web, you can now bundle even the most adventurous trips together and book them individually. But still, tour operators are growing rapidly, and even travel agencies, long thought to be dead, are resisting digitalization. Package holidays are more popular than they have been in a long time. This is due to the Corona crisis, during which tour operators were able to show all their skills.
Where can I be better insured – individually or in general?
As long as there are no problems during the trip, it does not make a big difference if you book your flight and beach hotel in Mallorca yourself or through a travel agency. However, when something goes wrong, the tour operator comes out with its advantages.
Regardless of whether the flight is canceled, the hotel goes bankrupt or the transfer does not show up at the airport: the tour operator is obliged to provide a replacement for everything included in the booked package. Usually, there are 24-hour helplines that will resolve the issue in question immediately.
If there is an official travel warning before the trip begins, the package tour can usually be canceled free of charge. Especially at the beginning of the corona epidemic, when many flight connections were suddenly canceled, tour operators resorted to every means to bring their customers back to Switzerland.
If you book your trip individually, you will have to find a solution or make the replacement yourself in case of problems.
This also applies, for example, to defects in accommodation. If there is no water coming from the shower, you, as an individual traveler, have to “argue” with the hotel management yourself; Package passengers can contact tour operators or their representatives in the country, who can then contact the hotel.
If there are defects that cannot be resolved, you can request a price reduction for the package holiday. If you are traveling as an individual this usually fails because you will have to comply with local customs and legislation in case of a dispute. Most of the time the effort expended is huge compared to the money saved.
Maximum freedom or “easy travel”?
While the advantages of package travel are clearly on the legal side, individual travel comes into its own when it comes to freely designing the trip.
Although tour operators are increasingly offering the opportunity to tailor trips to individual wishes, the majority of trips consist mainly of ready-made arrangements, for which you can only adjust the category of accommodation. This is especially true for “more complex” trips, such as longer tours within a country or region.
Once you start your journey, you have little opportunity to change the program. For example, if you want to stay in a city for longer, it is difficult to make arrangements because all accommodations and experiences are already booked.
Such trips are “easy” because you don’t have to worry about anything, but spontaneity is put aside.
It’s the opposite of an individual trip, where you can design the program according to your mood.
Which mode of travel is cheaper?
A general answer is difficult because package holidays vary from simple flight and hotel arrangements to multi-week expeditions. But research in recent years has shown that you can often get away cheaper if you put together your trip individually.
Take a trip to Thailand as an example. A Swiss tour operator currently offers an eight-day tour starting from 2,500 francs. This includes private transfers, your own tour guide, good hotels; Of course all this has to be paid for, plus the Swiss organizer wants to make a profit. If you go to the same places separately, which is very easy in Thailand, and make concessions on hotels, you can get by with a very small part of this budget.
Source : Blick
I am Dawid Malan, a news reporter for 24 Instant News. I specialize in celebrity and entertainment news, writing stories that capture the attention of readers from all walks of life. My work has been featured in some of the world’s leading publications and I am passionate about delivering quality content to my readers.
