The History and start of UK Package Holidays

In this Holiday4 article, we look at how the European Package Holiday was formed. Plus, we find who were the pioneers and founders of British Package Tour Operations.

Author: Chris Booth - Date: 24/06/2023.
Chris has been involved in the travel industry for over 30 years.

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1. The beginning of Package Holidays & British Tour Operators

Organised tours have origins dating back to the mid-17th century, starting with the aristocratic Grand Tour of Europe, an adventure exclusively reserved for the wealthy and commonly undertaken by gentlemen to 'finish off' their education. Fast-forward 200 years, and the streamlined package holiday (as we recognise them today) started to 'take off' when, in the late 1930s, Thomas Cook first introduced package holidays (to include flights, accommodation and transfers) with departures from London Croydon Airport to the sunny South of France.

In 1930s London, flights departing London Croydon Airport to the south of France would take around 4.5 hours to complete, with a max air speed of 190 mph and a max cruising altitude of just 13,000 feet. All of which compared quite favourably to the arduous 23 hours it would take to reach the same destination by ferry and train; unless of course, you were travelling on the Calais-Méditerranée Express - an extreme luxury French night express train called 'The Blue Train' (due to the blue and gold colour of its stylish sleeping cars), which carried wealthy and famous passengers between Calais and the French Riviera from 1922 until 1938.

Thomas Cook invented and perfected the modern Package Holiday and diligently held onto the 'Holiday Maker's Crown' - until the arrival of the first modern passenger jets in the mid-1960s.

3. What made early package holidays successful?

The arrival of 'larger' and faster passenger jets helped form the modern 'European Package Holiday' - and ensured the early success of British charter flight services. The passenger jet was widely used by newly formed airlines of the 1960s, with airlines such as Dan-air, Laker Airways, Court Line, Britannia and Monarch all taking the lead - with Britannia later becoming one of the world's largest and most successful holiday airlines.

New generation passenger jets provided more seats, which importantly led to lower prices; they also provided much-needed 'streamlining elements' such as reliability, flexibility, fewer flying restrictions due to unsettled weather and (most importantly) faster journey times - all the components needed for the successful running of a modern package holiday company - it's often said that the arrival of early passenger jets helped shape the 'package holiday services' we all enjoy today.

4. What were the first modern jets to be used for package deals?

• Typical charters (aircraft types) used on Mediterranean services from the early 1960s include the Comet 4. The Comet was the world's first passenger jet and was used by Dan-Air - right up to September 1981.
• The short-range (and stylish-looking) French airliner Caravelle came into service shortly after the Comet. The Caravelle was the first aircraft to install a five-abreast seat configuration and was powered by two aft-mounted Rolls-Royce Avon turbojet engines, allowing for a clean low-wing look.
• The BAC One-Eleven (or BAC 1-11) produced by the British Aircraft Corporation (BAC) was in full operation by 1967, with the 119-seat series being the favoured airliner for Laker Airways based at Gatwick and later at Berlin. The BA 1-11 was powered by (very noisy) aft-mounted Rolls-Royce Spey bypass turbofans. Laker Airways was one of the preferred airlines used by Clarksons Tours and later by Arrowsmith Holidays, mainly on the Spanish mainland and island routes - for both the 'main' summer season and the newly introduced 'winter' 1967-68 package holiday season.
• Laker Airways (founded by Sir Freddie Laker in 1966) went on to form its own European and U.S. package tour operations. The early 1970s saw the famous battle between Laker and aviation authorities over its "no frills" low-cost transatlantic service between London and New York. The service was eventually approved, and Laker introduced the McDonnell-Douglas DC-10 widebodied airliner to the route and called the service 'Skytrain'.
• The British Trident entered service in 1964 and was one of the first trijet aircraft with all three rear-mounted (and very loud) Rolls-Royce engines; the aircraft remained in service until the early 1980s. A similar design to the Trident was the hugely successful Boeing 727 (also a trijet), which entered service in 1964 and performed well as a holiday charter airliner and remained in service until the mid-1980s.
• (Although discouraged by British authorities at the time) the American-made Boeing 737 became the aircraft of choice in the late 1960s and early 1970s - and became the workhorse of the British holiday airline industry. The 737-100 entered service in 1967 - with the more popular lengthened 737-200 (providing extra seating) entering service in 1968. The 737 evolved through four generations to offer several variants for 85 to 215 passengers. In 1968, Britannia started its controversial operational involvement with the then-new Boeing 737-200 - and has continued operating mainly Boeing equipment ever since.

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5. Spain builds to meet new tourism demand.

In the early 1960s, many Mediterranean countries (especially Spain) acknowledged the economic benefits of mass tourism. Spain quickly embarked on an ambitious hotel development and construction programme that would see new 'purpose-built' holiday resorts developed across the region. Existing holiday resorts and coastal villages were extended to make space for multi-story hotels - purpose-built to meet the demands of a rapidly growing package holiday market.

As demand for Mediterranean beach holidays increased, so to did the need for new 'British-based' package holiday providers; as a result, many new holiday start-ups quickly appeared - and while some companies went on to become household names, many failed to meet the challenge, and quickly faded into the sunset - in any case, a new and exciting travel era had begun.

Who were the pioneers of modern-day Package Tour Operations?

The pioneers of modern-day Package Tour Operations included several successful independent start-ups, names such as Horizon Holidays, Sky Tours, GayTours and Clarksons, plus Liverpool-based Arrowsmith Holidays and (travel industry veteran) Cynthia Nolan's Cathedral Tours.

Soon a handful of newly formed and successful British package tour operators attracted the attention of large corporations, and it wasn't long before the Thomson Organisation (a Canada-based media company) took an interest in the UK travel market.

In 1965 the Thomson Corporation of Canada acquired Riviera Holidays, Sky Tours, Luxitours and Gaytours and 'quickly merged' them into one large travel operation named - the Thomson Travel Group. Sky Tours came with its own successful charter airline 'Britannia Airways (the airline's original name was Euravia, founded in 1961). Britannia was the first airline in Britain to operate the popular and versatile Boeing 737 series aircraft, which rapidly became Britannia's preferred airliner, with a fleet size of twenty-nine 737 200s. Under the Thomson Travel Brand, Britannia Airways would become one of the world's largest and most successful holiday airlines.

Britannia Airways played an important role in the success of the newly formed and rapidly expanding Thomson Travel Group. In 1970 the business was re-launched as "Thomson Holidays" under the leadership of Bryan Llewellyn as managing director. Thomson Travel was acquired by Preussag AG in 2000, which was re-named TUI AG in 2002. The Thomson Holidays name was retained under the TUI banner until it was retired in 2017.

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“The gladdest moment in human life, methinks, is a departure into unknown lands” – Richard Burton

The new package holiday made it easy to 'jet off' to warmer Mediterranean climates. However, package holidays offered much more than cheap food, sangria and sunburn - for many they provided a promise of something new, exciting and affordable. They provided experiences - with new sights, new cultures and sunny coastlines of golden sands, crystal blue skies and warm turquoise seas - experiences only dreamt about whilst watching tv at home or flicking through glossy magazines - so I say a big thank you to the pioneers of 1960's package holidays, for making available new experiences and for bringing 'affordable travel' to the masses.

You can find more information on the Thomson Travel Group here and about TUI AG here.

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Leading Holiday Companies of the 1960s & 70s

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