Jaunted

Sensing a grand marketing opportunity, a rival tour operator called Travel Republic called the anti-chav stance "offensive" and announced that it would offer a 10% discount to customers with the very chav names that McLean listed in his email.

We're not sure exactly how McLean was planning to keep chavs away, other than by offending them. It's unlikely that the company would refuse the money of people solely based on their names. All it could do, presumably, is keep its prices out of the reach of lower class travelers. But doesn't the upscale tourism market do that automatically, without needing to overtly single out certain groups for exclusion?

Not always: a recent Caribbean cruise on the luxury ship Ventura was ruined for many passengers when a last-minute fare sale unleashed an onslaught of uncouth travelers who engaged in food fights, fist fights, foul language, and even an arson attack. (Apparently, two chavs tried to set fire to a Christmas tree.) P&O Cruises had originally offered tickets for around 2,000 pounds per person, but a raft of cancellations forced them to drop prices to 900 pounds, a bargain that the Burberry-clad masses simply couldn't resist.

So is it offensive to advertise a vacation that excludes a certain category of people, as long as you don't discriminate along ethnic lines? Maybe, but the Activities Abroad email probably did appeal to customers who've had their long-awaited holiday trips ruined by the antics of a few drunken morons. There's probably a wiser way to address the issue, though. Sometimes, advertising is about saying things without saying them.

In any case, I think we can expect more class conflict in the coming months as the global recession forces the travel industry to slash prices. So if you can't stand the thought of sharing deck space with chavs on a cruise, consider chartering your own yacht. Love them or hate them, the chavs aren't going anywhere.

[Photo: The Daily Mail]

Related Stories:
· Chav-Free Holidays Firm Under Fire [The Daily Mail]
· Travel Company Offers Discount to Chavs [The Daily Mail]
· Caribbean Cruise Ends In Rebellion [Daily Mail]
· Drunk Travel Coverage [Jaunted]