Two highly significant events happened in the travel industry this week, writes Marcus Waring. The first is that the court of appeal ruled that travel companies can sell different holiday components without requiring an air-travel organiser's licence (ATOL), issued by the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA). The Atol scheme protects the tourist's money if their operator goes bust.

The second, announced by Thomson, is that they will now sell millions more unbonded "dynamic" packages, which will not be covered if things go wrong.

It has also been the worst summer for 15 years for tour operators - MyTravel has had its 54th profit warning this summer. In response, Travelmole.com, the travel industry website, organised a debate on Thursday titled "Is the traditional tour operator the dinosaur of the travel industry?"

Stuart Jackson, the managing director of the accommodation-only branch of Somewheretostay.com, is philosophical. "Every year a number of operators will go bust. We had avian flu in January and then the World Cup."

He believes that the key to their continuation is to have a flexible business model, and this seems to capture the mood of the panel. "Although," he adds, "the relationship between the customer and the travel agent is something of a dinosaur."

David Paterson, the sales director of Flybe, echoes this optimism. "Eighty-five percent of our bookings are through the internet, but £10m is still being booked through tour operators."

Noel Josephides, managing director of Sunvil Holidays, believes the tour operator is alive and well. "We have enormous growth in tailor-made holidays to Portugal and Italy. Our time-poor customers don't want to try putting that together on the web. After doing it themselves they come back to us, so it is going full circle."

But he has a stark warning for the future. "The public is becoming very sophisticated and are driving the prices down but the financial implications for people selling components are disastrous. And the key to survival for tour operators is to have a wide portfolio and to adapt quickly."

"In a way the opportunities are fantastic, but it is up to us to use them," says Tom Allen, the managing director of Cadogan Holidays. "We have sold packages for years, but manually, and it is up to us to change, but still add value somewhere along the chain. We are all looking at how we deliver our product to the customer through the right channel at the right price."

And that channel is increasingly becoming the internet. Lastminute.com is seeing a huge increase in dynamically-packaged city breaks and short

Mediterranean breaks, moving away from the traditional seven or 14-night holiday. Some 90% of their dynamically packaged breaks are sold online.

"The internet allows people to browse at home and gather information but they might still go to a tour operator to book," adds John Bevan, director of holidays and flights for Lastminute.com. "Our customers are getting smarter and using better methods to search and book, and want more flexibility."

Tom Allen echoes this: "Operators are moving in the way they distribute their product. They are getting the systems in place and, in this huge world, working out who their customers really are. And price is still the most important factor."

The conclusion seems to be that the tour operators are more of a chameleon than a dinosaur. People will still go to the Mediterranean for a bucket and spade holiday - they are just buying it differently.