The Travel Industry is probably one of the most complex and incestuous businesses you will ever come across, and yet the Customer knows so little about how it all works.

Package Holidays ruled!
Up until the last 10-15 years, most holidaymakers were used to buying a 'package' holiday.  Often they assumed it was all just one company who owned/supplied all the component parts.  In some cases this was true, with some Operators running their own airlines (eg. Thomas Cook) and exclusively contracting hotels, whilst others actually bought seats from various airlines and operated non-exclusive contracts with hotels and other suppliers, to make up your 'package' holiday.  Most of this stock was pre-bought and success or failure as a business was determined by whether you could sell the stock you had reserved.

Bring on the Web!
With the birth and explosion of the Web over the last 10 years, however, nothing is so simple any more.  Web Technology enabled Airlines to put their seats online directly to the public for the first time.  This quickly resulted in huge competition between companies such as Ryanair, Easyjet, BMIBaby etc.  Once customers could buy flights directly, they just needed access to hotel rooms, thus giving birth to another set of suppliers, aggregating Hotel Room availability (bedbanks) directly to the public.  Both of these were quickly followed with other products, such as Car Hire, Airport Transfers, Airport Parking, Travel Insurance etc., which traditionally used to be part of the 'Package Holiday'.

Suddenly, the big 'Package Holiday' Tour Operators were faced with unprecedented competition from new companies.  Whilst they were pre-buying airline seats and hotel space, all these new companies were just able to book and pay for stock as they needed it.  There was no point in fighting the change, so now nearly all the Travel Operators work on the basis of providing real-time stock allocation and only buying/confirming it when you book.  They also decided to acquire competitors and other successful companies (see "Who are you really buying your holiday from?").

The new marketplace
What this has created is a big marketplace of competing suppliers - Airlines, Bedbanks, Car Hire, Transfers, Parking, Insurance, Excursions, Attractions etc.  Many, if not all of these sell to the trade (Tour Operators and Agents), as well as directly to the public.  Also in many cases, you holiday is now made up 'on-the-fly', mixing flights with hotel beds, with transfers etc.  This is called "Dynamic Packaging" and, whilst more efficient for the industry, can leave the consumer at risk (see "Are you protected"), as these types of holidays are often not protected under government legislation covering "package" holidays.

Dynamic Packaging
With the components of Travel being so readily available, the Consumer now has the ability to make up their own package holiday, with the inherent risk that involves.  This is known in the trade as "dynamic packaging".  Probably the biggest boom online, however, has come from the many new companies now acting as 'agents' or 'retailers' of these travel components, under their own brand, directly to the consumer - examples are LastMinute.com and Expedia.com.   Unlike the 'old' Tour Companies, these 'upstarts' grasped the new technology and now drive their business through very focussed marketing campaigns.

How will you buy your holiday?
As a Consumer, you now have much more access, choice and flexibility in the holidays you can buy.  What you have to decide as a consumer, is how you want to buy your holiday -

1. By spending time online, researching, comparing, and shopping around for the best components to make up your own holiday, taking the risks if things go wrong, but getting exactly what you want
2. By buying form a company like LastMinute or Expedia who do the compilation for you, or
3. By buying a "Package" holiday from a traditional Tour Operator or High Street Agent, with the protection and support that provides

Although we all like to spend time surfing the web, and we are a nation of shopaholics looking for the best deal, I guess that all three methods will still survive into the future.  

AwayWorldwide.com is here to try to put all the suppliers, information and experiences in a single place, to make your choice a little easier.  Enjoy!