Harriet Brine

“The volcanic ash cloud showed the real value of booking with an ABTA
member and the great emphasis we place on looking after the British travelling
public.”

The Eyjafjallajökull volcano erupted in March 2010. A month later on Wednesday

14th April the eruption escalated, closing UK and European airspace for seven days
due to unsafe flying conditions. The closure of these airspaces is the biggest
disruption to flights since 9/11.

There were many implications on the tourism industry and its different sectors of
businesses. Independent travel companies struggled, or failed, to meet the demand
for refunds on consumer’s flights and holidays which inevitably spelled the end of
business for them. Independent travellers who had made their own travel
arrangements found they had no support or back-up when their travels came to a
halt. The implications of the ash cloud on the package holiday market, however,
surprisingly meant good things.

Firstly, the bad implications should be said. The volcano ash cloud dented the
holiday market financially. Some sectors of the tourism industry were not financially
equipped to deal with a six day flying ban. The package holiday market saw a large
drop in bookings as consumers were reluctant to venture on their travels with an
unpredictable volcano erupting. As a result, the package holiday market saw a
slower growth this summer. The quote below backs up the statements I have just
made.

“The crisis had cost TUI £20 million up to Sunday, the £6 million each day after that.”

Berman, C. (2010) ‘Ash causes cash flow problems.’ Travel Weekly, 2015, pp.4-5.

Secondly, the more positive implications of the volcanic ash cloud. After the
volcano’s eruption, it was very clear which companies shone through for saving their
customers. It was with this, that a strong base was built for companies for the future.
Package holiday companies provide protection on consumer’s travels, something
that dynamic packaging doesn’t come with. So, when the volcano ash cloud crisis
happened, the package holiday companies really came out on top. This resulted in
more consumers looking to package holidays for their travels as it meant more
reassurance. Unfortunately, this has resulted in a stunt in the growth of the dynamic
packaging holiday market.

Because the package holiday market tour operators are ABTA members, it has given
them more support by receiving help and guidance from ABTA when trying to bring
people home. Thomson and First Choice’s shop staff really pulled through with a
show of commitment when 270 of them agreed to open up on the Sunday after the
flying ban, when they are normally closed. This has proved invaluable for tour
operator’s reputation as the feedback from customers about the support they
received from them was extraordinary.

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Under the Denied Boarding Regulations, if a customer is travelling with an airline

based in the EU or with a non-EU based airline flying out of an EU airport, then the
airline must provide the customer with assistance. Tour operators did this by
providing accommodation and meals whilst keeping their customers informed of
what was happening.

Lastly, one of the most important implications that came from the volcanic ash cloud
was the adapting that the package holiday market had to overcome to not go out of
business. When the volcanic ash cloud hit, TUI assembled a specialist assistance
team that supported their customers to ensure they were bought home by any
means. They kept everyone up to date, offered advice, met customers off planes,
met customers entering the UK through Dover and deployed employees onto rescue
cruise ships. From now on, there is that specialist assistance team that now consists
of 200 volunteers that are ready on stand-by if something like this happens again.
This is a great example of adapting to the change.

The volcanic ash cloud DID show the real value of booking with an ABTA member.
This has been made very clear by the quick response that was put in place by
package holiday providers. It was then backed-up by the great after care of solving
customer’s compensation claims. From the implications of this volcano ash cloud
crisis, the tourism industry has been faced with obstacles that have not occurred
before. This has given them a new knowledge for forward thinking planning for other
crisis’s that may occur similar to the ash cloud.

Word Count: 717

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Bibliography

Journals

 Berman, C. (2010) ‘Agents go extra mile to rescue customers.’ Travel

Weekly, 2015, pp.6.
 Hayhurst, L. (2010) ‘TUI agents jump to join crisis team.’ Travel Weekly, 2015,
pp. 8.
 Diamond, A. And Turner, R. (2010) ‘Warning: Volcano!’ Which? Holiday, July
2010, pp. 11-12.
 Berman, C. (2010) ‘Ash crisis ‘to boost package bookings’.’ Travel Weekly,
2015, pp. 12.
 Huxley, L. (2010) ‘Crises are the norm for travel.’ Travel Weekly, 2015, pp. 5.

Academic Texts

 Holden, A. (2008) Environment and Tourism. 2nd ed. Abingdon: Routledge.

 Page, S. (2003) Tourism Management: Managing for Change. Oxford:
Butterworth – Heinemann.

Internet Source

 BBC News (2010) How volcano chaos unfolded: in graphics [Online] available
from: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/8634944.stm [Accessed
18.09.2010]