Single parents are still losing out financially on package holidays, despite moves in the travel industry to cater for them better. According to an investigation by currency exchange firm FairFX, in peak season a single parent travelling with a child can pay up to £500 more than if they were travelling in a couple.
This is because many operators continue to charge a single-person supplement. Additionally, they also only offer free child places when two adults are travelling, suggesting the travel industry continues to focus on the nuclear-family model despite the UK having about two million single parents – accounting for close to 25% of families with dependent children.
TUI and First Choice offer free child places when the child is accompanied by two adults. Similarly, Airtours and Thomas Cook Holidays offer a “child price” in some hotels but only when the child is sharing a room with two people paying the full adult price.
The survey analysed a selection of holidays from major travel operators, comparing the cost of a package for one adult and a two-year-old child with that of two adults and a two-year-old, flying from Gatwick in August.
The biggest price difference was found with a First Choice holiday to the Holiday Village Rhodes. A seven-night break cost £515 or 32% more per person for a single adult. Another First Choice holiday, to the Princess Andriana Resort & Spa which is also in Rhodes, was £359 more expensive for a single parent.
Single parents booking a Thomas Cook holiday to Bahia Principe Costa Adeje in Tenerife can also expect to pay 14% more than the per person cost of a two-parent family, amounting to £154 more.
Some tour operators, however, have adjusted their pricing to be more accommodating to single parents. Last August, Virgin Holidays worked with a selection of its hotels in the Caribbean to offer a reduction for the second occupant of a room when they are a child.
This followed a campaign by Gingerbread, which advocates for single parents and has campaigned to have single parents treated equally. Its “We are the 1 in 4” campaign called for fairer family ticket prices for single-parent families.
Ian Strafford-Taylor, CEO of FairFX, said: “Our research shows that families are being hit with unfair pricing inconsistencies which, in many cases, are unfavourable for single parents.”
“Travel operators appear to be basing their pricing structure on the stereotypical ‘nuclear’ family and that’s just not realistic. Nowadays, families come in different shapes and sizes and it’s time travel operators evolved their business models to reflect reality. It should cost the same amount whether there’s one parent or two taking a child on holiday; it’s unfair for parents to be penalised for travelling solo.”
Source: www.theguardian.com
