This year has seen an economic down turn with redundancies and businesses announcing losses, accompany this with some of the coldest winter whether in recent years, and you may understand why holiday destinations are hoping to benefit from people’s eagerness to escape to warmer climates.
Most parents surveyed still believe that hotels and tour operators are benefiting from the holiday restrictions placed on them by schools, forcing them to take more expensive holidays out of term time. One local teacher stated that parents either respect the schools policy or add the fine into the cost of their annual holiday. This she believes is a growing trend amongst parents in her local area. ‘Of course most of them understand it’s wrong, but they can only just afford to get away’. The knock on effect means that children often have to face the pressure of catching up on the work they missed and with governments focussing on test result the question is “can our children cope?”
One themed hotel in Mallorca is fighting back not only against price increases, but also raising the profile of sports and a healthy lifestyle. ‘Here at Vent-i-mar we believe parents have a right to holiday during school holidays without penalty. We will not be raising the price of our programs during school holidays’. ‘We also believe that combining adventure sports and cultural tours will mean families get quality time together and parents can choose a healthy fun packed holiday’. A breath of fresh air in the hotel industry, or doomed to failure? We put the question to several parents. ‘We normally holiday in Mallorca and this is something that we would now consider’ ‘it's a fantastic idea, why aren’t more hotels doing this?’ A spokesperson for Vent-i-mar responded by saying, ‘we can’t control the airline prices however we hope that the industry will sit up and listen’.
Vent-i-mar is opening April 2010. The family and managers believe incorporating sports and culture will provide families with a healthy and educational holiday in the sun.
