'Holiday complaints double', screamed the headlines last week. The source was an appearance by BBC Watchdog editor Mark Killick at the annual conference of the Association of British Travel Agents. It was courageous of Killick to face an audience which included holiday executives who have been mauled pitilessly by Watchdog presenter Anne Robinson - described by one victim as a 'ginger-haired scud missile'.

The evidence seemed straightforward. Watchdog received 2,000 complaints in July and August, twice the number from the same period in 1999. These figures were inflated by a series of justifiable complaints after an outbreak of a water-borne illness at a complex in Majorca, which was belatedly dropped by JMC, the tour-operating arm of Thomas Cook.

In an aside, Killick observed that travel was now the second most-hated industry in Britain. He meant that travel received the second highest number of complaints in Watchdog's postbag of 350,000 letters a year. But the tabloid language was revealing and in tune with a programme that sets out to be a peak-time show high on drama.

Much of the available evidence suggests a different picture. Abta received 15,000 complaints between 1 July 1999 and 30 June 2000, a drop of 12 per cent from the previous year. Most were dealt with by the tour operators, though 1,300 went before the Abta arbitration scheme: 80 per cent of complainants recovered compensation. This is from more than 18 million package holidays sold in the year.

Airtours managing director Richard Carrick grabbed his own headlines recently when he declared war on whingeing customers who drummed up false complaints. He has said privately that this was an exaggeration of what he said. He told the conference: 'I never said or would say that all customers are whingers.' He said that the handling of complaints was too protracted but maintained that 'the process of resolv ing complaints is being slowed down by people with bogus or unsubstantiated claims.'

Thomson Holidays takes a different view. John de Vial, holiday service director, said: 'We disagree with Airtours. Customers don't have complaints, they have problems.' Thomson says it has cut the level of complaints from 1.48 per cent in 1997 to 1.06 per cent this year. Rivals are less willing to disclose their figures but the industry norm is higher, perhaps as much as 2 per cent.

The evidence is that holiday companies are seeking to raise quality, but the goalposts keep moving. As consumers, we are more demanding than ever - and fully aware of our rights.

Holiday companies will have to run just to stand still and quality will have to continue to be raised if Anne Robinson is not to be given more ammunition.