As a result of new directives from the Swedish Consumer Agency, travel companies have removed visible discounts from their offers. This is especially important for more people to know, as many are currently booking both Easter trips and summer holidays. When price is an extra important factor for many, travelers are left to navigate the price jungle without clarity about which discounts are available. 

Summary – New times for package tour prices:

• New: No more visible discounts on package tours.
• Reason: New EU law and requirements from the Swedish Consumer Agency – the lowest price of the last 30 days needs to be displayed in real time in connection with the discounted price.
• Technical challenge: No player in the travel industry can meet the requirements as a package holiday price contains an incredible number of variables 
• Meaning: Consumers cannot see which trips are discounted at a preferential price and must form their own opinion about what is the normal price and what is the discounted price. 
• Travel companies: Airtours and Ving removed discount rates in January, later in February/March also TUI and Apollo 

MORE INFO:
The Consumer Agency's requirements  
The Swedish Consumer Agency initiated a special review in the autumn of 2023. This is after a new EU law came into force from September 2022, which means that companies that sell a product must state the lowest price of the product in the last 30 days, the so-called 30-day price. The purpose of this is to ensure that consumers are not misled into believing that the price reduction is greater than it actually is. 
More about the law: https://www.svenskhandel.se/nyheter/nyhet/nya-konsumentsrattsliga-regler

 
Travel companies' technical systems do not comply with the new law  
The price of a package holiday includes a large number of variables, which change every day, even hour by hour, which makes the starting price on which the discount is based constantly changing. No player in the industry is able to meet the requirement to display the lowest price of the last 30 days in real time. Until now, the price that the system generates has been able to be displayed in combination with a discount rate and then the discounted price. Discounts are common in the travel industry in connection with, for example, Black Friday, for early bookings in January to March, and at the last minute. Airtours and Ving removed the visible discount rate in January 2024. Most recently, TUI and Apollo have also removed the discount rate. 

For the consumer
For the consumer, this means new times where you simply have to form your own opinion on what a high price, normal price and discounted price are. This is of course very relevant this spring when many are looking at last minute deals for Easter and summer holidays. Some trips are heavily discounted, others a little and others not at all….

Quote
Stefan Chatzopoulos, CEO Airtours: 
“Discounts have always been an important incentive for customers so this clearly means new times for the industry. It is absolutely in our interest to find a way forward that works and where we can show discounts again but as it stands now it is not possible. To meet the requirements we need to create a new system that saves up to 220 million price combinations per day that can be funneled and summarized in real time which our system cannot handle at the moment. It is a bit different for a package holiday where there is such an incredible amount of variables compared to a product like home electronics or clothing. But the requirements from the Swedish Consumer Agency for the travel industry as well as other industries are based on a need for transparency which we take seriously. We removed the visible discount in January”, says Stefan Chatzopoulos.  

Forward
In the future, it is hoped that the Swedish Consumer Agency will come up with new guidelines adapted to the travel industry. Another alternative is for travel operators to develop new technical systems that can meet the requirements, but rebuilding the systems will be complex and regardless of whether this is done, a close dialogue with the Swedish Consumer Agency will be needed.