Sunday, April 13, 2014

Majority Of Parents Want More Expensive Off-Peak Holidays.

I thought we'd heard the last of this story a few weeks ago but it turns out that some people are still very angry that holiday companies charge less when demand is lower. The actual outrage is over charging more during the school holidays when demand is sky high, but it amounts to the same thing:

Majority of parents back holiday price caps - new ITV poll
 
More than half of parents say inflated holiday prices should be capped so they are not forced to take their children out of school for cheaper getaways, a new survey for ITV reveals.
 
...
 
More than half of parents surveyed (53 per cent) believed travel companies should be forced to cap their holiday prices.
 
 Presumably the hotels and airline operators will charge the holiday companies less during peak demand too. This does demonstrate why political debates over the economy are so inane- even the most basic economic concept, the kind which are learned in the very first lesson of an economics course, are considered to be akin to magic by a large proportion of the population.

3 comments:

Omega Negative said...

Isn't the point though that parents are forced to take the family on holiday during those periods as they can be legally penalised for holidays during term time?

The law is creating the demand.. its not a 100% natural occurrence, and so if its going to continue to exist, it should also help manage the consequences.

I think parents should be able to take their kids on holiday whenever they like without fear of consequences, and then no such controls would be necessary, but unfortunately it is what it is.

Omega Negative said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Ross said...

Omega- yes, the blame is with the schools, not the holiday companies.