"It's going to create a new kind of vacationer," says a Midwestern tour operator. Agrees a Boston holiday wholesaler: "This is the future of travel for the masses." The development that has injected such enthusiasm into the recession-hit tourist business is known in industry jabberwocky as O.T.C., meaning one-stop inclusive tour charter. For the tourist, the initials could well stand for OffToCamelot.
O.T.C. represents a long-sought liberalization of the Civil Aeronautics Board's charter rules—as a CAB spokesman puts it, "the most significant step the agency has ever taken in regard to charter transportation." The change, approved in September, allows the vacationer to...