Hole flow in metals or conductors?

why cant there be hole flow in conductors?i mean when considering the conductor atoms near the positive terminal,due to the positive attractive force,the conductor atom will lose an electron and thus acquire a positive charge..(which i guess is an hole)now to fill it up the neighboring atom loses electron and acquires a hole....in this way won't there be hole flow opposite to electron flow in a conductor as well?if the positive charge on the conductor atom cannot be considered a hole why is it so?and what is the significance of holes in semiconductors?