Package holiday firms that are active in the Netherlands have been given eight weeks to start displaying full prices on their websites by the Dutch consumer protection authority ACM.

Checks on 12 companies by the ACM showed that 11 of them were not showing the real cost of holidays and that consumers were being confronted by a range of additional fees on top of the advertised price.

“We want to prevent consumers facing unexpected costs once they have reached the end of the booking process or even when they arrive at their destination,” ACM director Edwin van Houten said. 

The regulator has now written to the holiday firms explaining what changes need to be made. For example, the price which consumers see should include all the variable costs and local taxes. Nor can holiday firms display prices for holidays which are not, or are no longer, available.

Frank Oostdam, director of the tour operators’ association ANVR, said he backed the ACM’s demands, but said displaying local taxes is problematic, due to exchange rates and other more localised variations.