What is the difference between a tour operator, a travel agent and an online travel agency?
Who creates the holiday, who sells it, and who you have a contract with — and the last of those determines who is responsible when something goes wrong, which is the part that matters.
Tour operator. Creates the product by combining components — flights, accommodation, transfers, activities — into a package sold under its own name. It contracts with suppliers, takes commercial risk, and sells the result.
Your contract is with the operator, which means it is responsible for delivering the whole holiday, not just the parts it operates itself.
Travel agent. Sells travel products, generally as an intermediary for operators, airlines and hotels, usually earning commission. A traditional agent advises, compares and books.
When an agent sells you a package, your contract is normally with the operator, and the agent acts as its agent — so a complaint about the holiday goes to the operator.
Where an agent assembles components for you, the legal position may change, which matters considerably.
Online travel agency (OTA). An agent operating at scale online. The important and frequently obscured question is whether the OTA is acting as agent for the supplier — in which case your contract is with the hotel or airline — or as principal, contracting with you directly. The terms and conditions state which, and it determines who you pursue.
Why this matters more than it sounds. In the UK, the Package Travel Regulations give substantial protection when you buy a package — defined broadly, and including many combinations booked together or through linked processes. Protections include insolvency protection for your money, liability of the organiser for the whole package, and rights to repatriation.
Booking components separately gives you none of that. Each supplier is responsible only for its own part, so a delayed flight that causes you to miss a non-refundable hotel is your loss.
Linked travel arrangements — booking a second component through a link after the first — carry lesser protections that are widely misunderstood.
Check for ATOL and ABTA, and confirm whether your booking is a package before assuming protection.