Personally, I like the idea that I book up get on a coach and at the end of the journey I get off the coach and have a nice relaxing time. Recent disruption with flights leading to holidays being cancelled tends to put me off flying. Sitting on a coach is part of the holiday for me and as my kids get older they may not want to continue with this kind of holiday so I will enjoy it while it lasts.

I dont think I could be bothered with the hassle of organising all the travel arrangements independently. Maybe with the strike action at airports, more people will be looking for the coaching option.

I totally agree with you mate ... it's part of the holiday for me too, and it's less hassle for me to have the coach journey and the accom linked together if it's good value

.... but if the coaching option is dropped, and i have to organise my own flights, i'm not sure i'd be loyal to any of these traditional coaching companies, if you know what i mean!

when my partner was alive i travelled many times by coach to the costa brava, as she hated flying.it was a great way to travel abroad again after being confined to the uk.
now i arrange my own holidays on-line as flying does not bother me. i just find the whole thing boring.
i usually go by ryanair to gerona and use various companies to get the best deal on accomodation. this works out significantly cheaper than trying to book accom through ferris or siesta.
this way i can also travel on days/times that suit me.
there will always be a demand for coach travel to holiday resorts abroad because there are large numbers of people who wont fly, but i cannot see how a former coach holiday company can expect to get bookings from existing customers when they have taken away the thing that was most important to them -getting there without flying.

Jim, you've summed my views up perfectly

The only reason i have travelled with these companies (and i've been with Siesta, Club C, Redcrest, Interbrava, Impact, Seasun, Sunshine Coast, phew!) IS the fact that they get me to my resort the way i want to travel .. by coach! Yes, they tend to be good value too, but that is second to the travel option

Now, if i ever got over my flying fear, would i book with Siesta, Interbrava, etc, or would i look at the likes of Go4Spain who i'd probably get a better deal with, pickup from airport, flexible arrivals, etc. Tough choice, eh?

My loyalty is with companies who go by coach, after that, it's loyalty by £££££'s!! My view is that it's quite a risk to drop coach operations and throw your customers to your competitors, and then hope that you can do enough to survive in the accom only market, where you become a relatively small and new player. 2008 will be an interesting year to watch, and will be interesting to see whether or not Cantabrica and Siesta strengthen, or weaken