Gove said that “unscrupulous” travel companies would continue charging higher prices during school holidays following the Supreme Court’s decision last week to reinstate a £120 fine on father Jon Platt for taking his daughter out of school to go to Florida.

“I recognise that unscrupulous tourism firms will try to rack up the costs for time away during the school holidays,” said Gove in a column for The Times. “But the answer lies in better regulation of that market, not a free-for-all in school attendance.”

Abta was quick to respond to Gove’s comments: “Rather than labelling the entire travel industry as “tourism sharks”, [Gove] should recognise that as an MP and former education secretary he has the opportunity to help families by supporting the introduction of regionally staggered school holiday dates.”

The association has been making repeated calls for school holidays to be staggered to “alleviate some of the sharp peaks in pricing, expand the travel window and ease the pressure on family budgets” for the past few years.

This suggestion has long been supported by deals website Travelzoo, which started a campaign called Parent Trap in 2013, when the rules around term-time absence changed.

It claimed this week that children had taken 12.8 million days of “unauthorised” absence during the past year.

“Many in the industry believe regional staggering would help reduce pressure on international flight prices during peak periods,” said a Travelzoo spokesperson. “We urge the government to explore this option seriously to help the UK economy and hard-pressed families.”

But agents were not so sure that staggering school holidays around the country would reduce prices for families during peak periods.

Travel Designers director Nicholas Harding-McKay, said: “It’s all about supply and demand – that’s business. Some companies do take advantage, but it’s a minority.”

Paul Smith, founder of the Quartz Travel Group, said: “[Staggering] would be sensible but then tour operators could get round it by extending the peak prices so they would not necessarily be lower.

You have to book a year or more in advance to get the best deals for the school holidays.”

The Supreme Court decision to reinstate Platt’s fine from Isle of Wight Council reversed a previous decision by the High Court in his favour.