Why Don’t Tour Agencies Show All Inclusive Pricing?

Hi Friends,

You are excited about the advertised travel deals published by the tour agencies! You rushed down to Natas Fair 2010 to book your dream holiday. To your dismay, you realized that the prices is not all inclusive. What happened?

Is the above scenario familiar? I guess we all have our fair share of the story.

Most tour agencies in Singapore are still showing prices exclusive of airport taxes and surcharges. Usually there is a fine print at the bottom of their travel brochures stating the range of the airport taxes and surcharges.

Have you wondered why can’t tour agencies simply provide all inclusive prices?

Anyway, travelers are still going to decide which tour agency to book their dream holiday with after considering the itinerary  and of course the total cost ( tour packages + airport taxes + surcharges during holiday season + compulsory tips + expected disbursement for meals not cover in the packages).

For some time, I have been thinking of this and my conclusion is tour agencies are not doing it because majority is not doing it. Reflecting a all-inclusive packages prices is going to make the tour packages appear more expensive and may cause the consumer to check out the  “cheaper” package instead.

The tour agencies may have their difficult points. Image,if you see  tour agency ABC charging $700 for 7N to Taiwan and tour agency ZZZ charging $1000 (all inclusive pricing) for the same 7N to Taiwan, who will you call up first?

I may get more excited over tour agency ABC’s travel deals first and contact them to check out the details. Won’t you do it too?

So having know that tour agencies prices are usually not all inclusive, it is the job of travelers to ensure we check around for the pricing. Add all the costs up, study the itinerary and the number of meals provided to decide which tour agency is truly “value for money”.

Of course, don’t forget the non-quantitative factors like good reputation, good tour leader (e.g. someone whom have lead a tour you have previously enjoyed) and a suitable itinerary.

If we are willing to spend the money, we must feel happy after going for the tour. If not, why spend the money on travel? We can use the money to shop in Singapore too!

Cheers,

Karen