All inclusive vacations

Want to know more about all inclusive vacations before you go?

Find out more about all inclusive hotels by reading these articles.

Saint or sinner? Do all inclusive vacations provide a much needed break for millions of families on a tight budget and employment for local people - or deny local communities a fair share of tourism revenues? Was the Gambia right to attempt to ban all inclusive vacations? Belgian sportsman Gerard Blitz pioneered the concept of all inclusive vacations using army surplus tents in Majorca in the 1950’s. Club Med was born, and the first of their famous straw-hut villages opened in Corfu in 1952. Its first all inclusive ski-village opened in Switzerland five years later. Read more about all inclusive hotels in this all inclusive vacations article.

The news that First Choice is to become 100% all-inclusive has recently divided the travel industry. Justin Francis, founder of responsibletravel.com does not believe that all all-inclusives are inherently bad, despite what he describes as some ‘well-deserved negative press’ surrounding them. When done well such resorts can offer sustainable solutions for high density tourism. The problem is, not many are being ‘done well’.

A local hotel worker in the Caribbean once told me that the jobs provided for the local community by all-inclusive hotels were “the best jobs we’ve ever had.” Unfortunately, this is often far from the truth in the majority of cases. All-inclusive resorts have picked up some well-deserved bad press over the years for exploiting local labour and giving little back to communities in the way of economic benefits. They’ve often been viewed as an eye-sore on local environments and their self-contained nature has meant that any visitor with the slightest sense of curiosity for what lays behind those four walls has little chance of venturing out anyway. In fact, in recent years the all-inclusive has almost become synonymous with ‘irresponsibility’ - hence the recent debate.

However, despite their poor reputation, all-inclusives are not inherently doomed from a sustainability perspective. In my view there is nothing that prevents all-inclusive resorts being operated in a responsible way. An impressive all-inclusive resort can provide employment for local people with a genuine chance of progression - with the right support and training - into managerial roles that are better paid. Indeed, an all-inclusive resort in a developing country could employ far more people locally than several eco lodges ever could. Read more about sustainability in all inclusive hotels in Justin's column 'can all inclusives be sustainable?'