CONSUMER choice of foreign holidays will be restricted to two British owned tour operators following the purchase by Thomson Holidays of Budget Travel.
Some 90 per cent of package holidays from the State will be sold by two tour operators, rather than three as previously. Budget Thomson will have a combined market share of 45 per cent, while Falcon/JWT Holidays is believed to hold a similar share.
Granada, a British conglomerate best known as the originator of Coronation Street, has owned Budget Travel for the past nine years, having bought it from Ms Gillian Bowler and Mr Harry Snyder, who continued to manage the company.
The managing director of Falcon/JWT Holidays, Mr John, MacNeill, promised that competition between the two companies would be as keen as ever. Ms Bowler said yesterday it would be daft" to change a policy which had made Budget successful in the first place.
The purchase follows price turmoil in the travel trade this year. Many customers delayed making bookings believing that brochure prices would be cut, and they were proved correct. An Irish Times investigation last month showed Thomson and Falcon holidays in Majorca selling at £239 and £259, down from brochure prices of £415 and £429.
A Cork Fine Gael TD, Mr Michael Creed, has demanded that the Competition Authority investigate the Thomson/Budget deal.
Approval of the acquisition has been granted by the Minister for Enterprise and Employment, Mr Richard Bruton. Mr Creed said he was not trying to "second guess" the Minister but he believed the Competition Authority should use the independence the Dail gave it two months ago to see if the takeover might lead to "an unhealthy market concentration".
Mr Charles Newbold, managing director of Thomson Holidays, said the decision to buy Budget was taken because in all its markets Thomson wished to be market leader.
Neither side is disclosing the price, but industry sources say it is probably in the range of £9 million to £10 million. Ms Bowler and Mr Snyder have 10 per cent so they stand to receive between £900,000 and £1 million. Granada paid £4.5 million for Budget in 1987.
With the recent purchase by Thomas Cook of the small tour operator Sunworld, virtually the entire package holiday business in Ireland is in British ownership.