SCHIPHOL - Dutch people who want to make a holiday trip to Curaçao, Aruba and Bonaire in July, for example, can go on a bargain hunt. The prices of last minutes at travel companies have fallen by a few tens to hundreds of euros in a month and a half, according to research by holiday comparator Weflycheap.
The comparator examined the prices of the cheapest package holidays to popular holiday resorts at the three largest travel providers, Sunweb, TUI and Corendon.
The client is lucky. Those who now book a package holiday with departure in July to, for example, Curaçao, Aruba and Bonaire now pay considerably less for exactly the same trip than more than a month ago. For example, a TUI holidaymaker paid 1,290 euros for a nine-day trip with accommodation on 10 May, while on 18 June exactly the same trip was only 799 euros. A drop of 38 percent.
A surprising development, according to Eelko van Drongelen, director of Weflycheap.nl. The expectation was that there would be a run on foreign holidays and prices would rise sharply, also because travel organizations had made tight purchases. “Unexpectedly, there seems to be less enthusiasm for going on holiday by plane in July,” says Van Drongelen. He thinks that many consumers doubt whether they would be wise to take the plane.
And he suspects that the travel companies have purchased extra trips, which is putting pressure on prices. TUI and Corendon confirm this. TUI says it has planned many extra flights to Curaçao, Bonaire and Aruba, when it saw an increasing demand for holidays on the Caribbean islands.
According to Corendon, the prices of last-minute trips are competitively priced, because the British are not allowed to go on holiday abroad, except to Gibraltar and Israel, which means that many accommodations are empty. "We were therefore able to buy the rooms cheaply," said spokesman Audrey Denkelaar.
"People still seem a bit hesitant to travel," concludes Frank Oostdam, director of the ANVR travel industry. And those prices may as well rise again tomorrow, he emphasizes. According to him, the latter strongly depends on the outlook. At least he sees it sunny for this summer. The possibilities to test for free, the arrival of the EU certificate and the corona check app could give travel (and therefore prices) a significant boost.
Van Drongelen of Weflycheap would not be surprised if the prices of package holidays with departure in July fall even further. “If you don't have a preference for a destination or accommodation or a departure date in July, I would say: hold off on booking. There is a good chance that there will be stunts before departure in the short term. If you are not that flexible, then this is a good time to make the most of it.”
