Complaints about resort reps (12%) have been second most frequent this summer after accommodation (36%), according to a new survey by consumer group TravelWatch.

According to aggrieved tourists, resort reps are 'unsympathetic and hopeless in a crisis'. The report also claims that although tour operators have good training programmes, half-way through the summer the quality threshold starts to fall 'as reps fall out with their Spanish boyfriends and decide to go home'.

After a summer of flight delays, coach strikes and an erupting volcano, it looks as if it might be a record year for complaints. The number of enquiries from angry holidaymakers in the first seven months was more than the total amount for 1999 and 2000 combined.

Sales of holidays and flight-only deals are forecast to exceed 19 million this summer, an increase of 8% on last year.

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