I am eagerly waiting for the new brochure as I have decided to book early this year rather than run the risk of losing the holiday I really want as happened this year - not long to wait now!

But I have been browsing other holiday companies who offer tours around Europe in the school holidays (ie end July and August) and was quite surprised to see some quite small companies offering plenty of choice for these dates - not singles holidays though which I would prefer.

So, my question is, why do JY offer so few holidays in the school holidays, and even fewer options that fly from Manchester! JY have stated in the past that flights and hotel rooms are more expensive in the summer but if other companies can offer holidays throughout the year, why can't JY just adjust the prices to reflect the higher costs?

When I get the new brochure, I know there is no point bothering to search for places I would like to visit, I just go through it to highlight the dates and end up with about six or eight suitable holidays and I think there was only one with a flight from Manchester in the last brochure - so that is the holiday I chose!

I will fly from Heathrow for long haul, two week breaks but there were non going in my holiday period last year other than the one I went on a couple of years ago. It is too much hassle to trek down to Heathrow or Gatwick for a short flight to Europe just for one week!

So, is it going to be worth me even looking in the brochure this year so will I have to start looking for a different holiday company? Any hints?

Good morning,

Thanks very much for your post.

We have in the past offered many dates within the school holidays. However we have always struggled to sell these dates. It may be partly down to the higher prices caused by flights and hotels during the summer holidays and also could be due to the high temperatures in many places during July and August. So it's not a matter of us not being able to offer school holiday dates, it's just that whenever we have we have had low take up.

I know there are whole threads dedicated to regional flights, but it is always worth reiterating the point that whenever there are flights on the same days to the right airports we will offer the regional option. It isn't us making a decision not to offer regional options, but it is that there are not the right flights going from regional airports.

We will be offering the following tours during the school holidays in 2013 - I don't know right now if they will have regional options though.

Austrian Lakes (Just You) 11/08/2013

Prague Vienna & Budapest (Just You) 31/07/2013

Prague Vienna & Budapest (Just You) 28/08/2013

Albi & Carcassonne (Just You) 19/07/2013

Walking in the Ahr Valley (Just You) 16/08/2013

Discover Apulia (Just You) 27/07/2013

Discover Apulia (Just You) 03/08/2013

Discover Apulia (Just You) 10/08/2013

Discover Apulia (Just You) 24/08/2013

Discover Apulia (Just You) 31/08/2013

Calabria (Just You) 20/07/2013

Calabria (Just You) 31/08/2013

Moscow & St. Petersburg (Just You) 16/08/2013

Moscow & St. Petersburg - Golden Ring Special Departure (Just You) 28/08/2013

Treasures of Andalucia (Just You) 29/08/2013

Inspirational China 24/07/2013

Inspirational China 07/08/2013

Inspirational China with Yangtze Add-on 24/07/2013

Inspirational China with Yangtze Add-on 07/08/2013

The Wonder of China (Just You) 07/08/2013

The Wonder of China with the Yangtze Gorges Add-On (Just You) 07/08/2013

Highlights of Peru (Just You) 27/08/2013

Highlights of Peru with the River Amazon Add-on (Just You) 27/08/2013

Discover Vietnam (Just You) 14/08/2013

Discover Vietnam with Angkor Wat, Phnom Penh & Mekong River Add-on (Just You) 14/08/2013

It's well worth a look through our new brochure though, there's lots of great new products on offer,

I hope that helps

Kindest,

Ben

Ben, many thanks for this info about departures during the school summer holidays. I am in the same situation as Shyanne, I have to look at the departure date (and return date!) before I can look at destinations. Fortunately, my first choice for next summer - Russia - is scheduled to run in August, although I can't consider the Golden Ring tour as it gets back after my return to work.

We do have a nice long summer break but we can't choose the time when we have it!

Ben, thanks for your prompt and detailed response to my initial enquiry. I still feel disappointed even though you have listed all the 2013 options as some of the dates are not actually in my school holidays as different areas have different holiday dates which is rather annoying at times. It looks as if my choices are very limited as I have now been on the Prague holiday and also I have already been to China. I would love to go to Vietnam, it is on my list of places to visit, so that might be a possibility. Other than that, I appear to have a choice of three European holidays and nothing in the USA.

There are holiday companies that offer plenty of choice of touring holidays in August and they appear to have no difficulty in filling places, I wonder if JY look at the 'competition' to see which locations do sell in August? Also, have you thought about advertising in teaching magazines or websites as there are loads of teachers and school staff who have very restrictive holiday options - apologies if you have tried this in the past but I am getting desperate to finding suitable holidays for future years. Maybe I will just have to wait until I retire to be able to go with JY again!!