Families planning holidays to Spain and Portugal may find their money goes up to 20% further this year, according to latest figures from some of Europe’s most popular resorts.
This year’s Post Office Holiday Costs Barometer shows that prices have fallen sharply in many resorts, with prices down by up to 20% in Spain and almost 15% in the Algarve.
Portugal was the cheapest destination in Europe, thanks to cheap food and drink prices, while neighbouring Spain was in second place.
The research involved adding up the total for 10 holiday items across all destinations. In the Algarve they cost £46.34 – just 16p less than in Torremolinos on the Costa del Sol and only 80p cheaper than in Javea, on the Costa Blanca.
Prices in the Costas have fallen year on year – down 19% in the Costa del Sol and down 20% in the Costa Blanca.
A 3.4% rise in resort prices at fourth-placed Sunny Beach, Bulgaria, saw the 10 items cost £47.32, still less than a pound cheaper than then cheapest resort – Albufeira in the Algarve.
Such was the fierce competition to attract UK holidaymakers to the top four cheapest resorts, the fifth placed destination, Majorca, was almost £9 more expensive (£55.46).
Here prices have fallen 8.8% in a year, while they have gone down about 6% in Corfu, Greece (£64.45). This is equal to about a 1.7% fall in price once the Sterling to Euro exchange rate has been factored in.
Many of the resorts are easily accessible from UK airports such as Stanstead, Gatwick and Luton.
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The UK’s second biggest holiday operator is aiming to cement its comeback by increasing its focus on city breaks and combining high-tech features with customer service.
A rescue deal sealed with lenders helped save Thomas Cook from collapse last year and now the firm says it wants to ensure customers get a “trusted and personal” experience.
The company told investors the outlook for the coming year was encouraging, with summer bookings faring well. And it is to provide more city breaks – a move set to make getting to Luton Airport and other hubs a crucial part of holidaymakers’ plans – after a review found it had a shortfall in that sector.
Chief executive Harriet Green said the aim was to build a new portfolio of “flexible, trusted products and services”. She added that its customer survey had concluded that consistency and a strong brand drove consumer choice while finding that the key to success in the travel sector lay in “trust, personalisation, high-tech and high-touch”.
As part of its new strategy, which triggered a share price rise of 14%, Thomas Cook will cut the number of online brands and websites customers have access to just three in the UK and another in Germany.
There has also been speculation that the company will ask shareholders for £400 million to boost its finances though the firm says it is still considering what action to take.
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A beach on the island of Sicily has been named the world’s best in a global travellers’ poll.
Rabbit Beach at Lampedusa received the top accolade in a survey by TripAdvisor, followed in second place by Caribbean beach Grace Bay at Providenciales in the Turks and Caicos, and Whitehaven Beach in Queensland, Australia, in third.
Top European beach was also Rabbit Beach, with Playa de las Catedrales in Rabadeo, Spain, in second place. Anyone tempted to hop on the next flight out to one of these top destinations should also remember to arrange transfers to avoid hassle at the airport.
Rhossili Bay at Swansea in South Wales came in at third place on the European list. Other British beaches also fared well, with Woolacombe Beach in Devon in fifth place and Porthminster Beach at St Ives coming in at ninth.
Not surprisingly, Rhossili Bay, a three-mile stretch of white sand on the Gower Peninsula, topped the list of top UK beaches.
TripAdvisor spokeswoman Emma Shaw said: “These awards recognise the best beaches in the UK and beyond, according to those that really matter – travellers that have visited these beaches and given them the highest levels of praise. Huge congratulations to Swansea’s Rhossili Bay for beating many of the most exotic beaches across the globe.”
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World tourists will make more than one billion trips this year for the first time ever, research suggests.
According to a World Travel Market (WTM) survey, UK airports including Luton and Stansted will be particularly busy as Brits are set to make a significant contribution to the overall total by going on an increased number of trips during 2012.
Of the 1,000 UK adults who were polled, 52% revealed they had taken more than one holiday this year. This was proportion was significantly higher compared with 24% in 2010 and 41% in 2011.
In 2012, a total of 13% of UK travellers took three holidays while 34% took two holidays, compared with 10% and 28% respectively last year.
Meanwhile, a fortunate 5% went on four or more holidays in 2012, in comparison to 4% in 2011.
The survey findings also showed that 49% support the idea of baby-free planes, while 76% think charging overweight people to sit in larger seats on aircraft is a good idea.
In addition, 88% said they are against any plan to charge air passengers for hand luggage and 60% think the Olympics will have a positive impact on London tourism.
However, only 50% believe the Games will benefit UK tourism as a whole.
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Lonely Planet has confirmed that it is giving Sri Lanka the accolade of its number one destination in the world to travel to in 2013.
The travel guidebook publisher gave the Indian Ocean island the title of the hottest destination for next year after taking into account the unbiased views of staff and writers and the opinions of those in the travel community.
The country is seen as an emerging hotspot and visitors are advised to explore the newly opened up east coast as well as the famous pristine sandy beaches in the west and the south.
“North of the capital Colombo, on Sri Lanka’s west coast, Kalpitiya and the Puttalam lagoon are eco-tourism hotspots with bird watching and kayaking,” the guidebook states.
“The gloriously arching beaches of the nation’s east coast are now challenging traditional southern favourites. Arugam Bay’s sandy crescent is one of Asia’s best surf spots and further north, Uppuveli and Nilaveli near Trincomalee stretch for several pristine kilometres.”
Lonely Planet also recommends the colonial town of Galle, which has been recognised by Unesco, and points visitors towards the “glorious labyrinth” of the 17th century Dutch fort there.
Flights to Sri Lanka’s capital, Colombo, are available from London Heathrow and Gatwick and connections can also be made from other major Asian destinations like Bangkok as part of a bigger trip.
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The AeroMexico airline says it intends to work closely with the trade in the UK as it prepares to start flying between London and Mexico City.
AeroMexico, which is a member of SkyTeam, is due to begin operating flights between the UK capital and the Mexican capital three times per week from December 15. The flights will leave Heathrow on Monday, Thursday and Saturday and the firm’s manager in the UK, Elias Vivas, said it would not be paying commission but would offer “competitive” nett rates and is looking forward to working with UK trade.
“We are a premium carrier, we have successfully introduced routes to places like Shanghai on the strength of our corporate traffic,” he said. “We are counting on the support of the UK trade, we will work out incentive programmes for a number of key accounts.”
The flights will leave Heathrow at 17.25 and land in Mexico at 00.35 the following day, with the return flight departing Mexico City at 22.20 and arriving back in London at 15.00. The service will rival British Airways, which has had a monopoly until now.
The route is predominantly aimed at business and ex pat traffic, with tourism to the country generally entering via Cancun, and AeroMexico will offer business and economy cabins in a Boeing 767 before upgrading to a 787 Dreamliner in June 2013.
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New figures have indicated that, despite the financial problems in the UK, young people went on more holidays last year than in 2010.
People between the ages of 25 and 34 in the UK went on an average of four-and-a-half vacations in 2011, compared with just four the year before. And 15 to 25-year-olds went on as many as five holidays on average last year compared with only four in 2010. The research, which was carried out by the Association of British Travel Agents (ABTA), also shows that people are going away for shorter periods of time. ABTA chief executive Mark Tanzer says travel firms should take note of the findings.
“The research suggests they like to go away frequently and for shorter amounts of time than older age groups, which represents a great opportunity for travel companies to tap into this trend,” he said.
In contrast, the chief executive of the Association of Leading Visitor Attractions, Bernard Donoghue, has revealed that some attractions in London saw as much as a 61% year-on-year drop in visitor numbers in the first two weeks of the Olympics.
But, although the figures for the UK capital’s main attractions may have suffered, young people seem keener than ever to head off on holiday, and with airports like Heathrow, Gatwick and Stansted close to London there are a host of destinations available to them.
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One of the most biggest cultural festivals in India, held in the city of Pune, is about to attract international guests and visitors for a nine-night extravaganza of colour and music.
The Navaratra Mahotsav festival, which features a strong Bollywood theme, will open in Pune’s largest open-air stadium, the Ganesh Kala Krida Rangmanch.
One of the most anticipated events on the programme is an epic, 12-hour performance of Lavani, a traditional Indian art form combining percussion, song and dance in a celebration of passion and romance.
Music from Hindi Bollywood films will include ever-popular readings of Ghazals – a form of sung love poetry which has roots in the 6th century and expresses unattainable desire, as well as a performance of Asha Bhosale songs, which are featured in hundreds of Bollywood films. There will also be a production of the famous Marathi play, ‘Pati Sagale Uchapati’, the inspiration for the popular Bollywood comedy ‘All the Best:Fun Begins’.
Further highlights include ‘Music India’, a special concert to celebrate a century of Indian music, and performances from renowned Indian folk singer Hridaynath Mangeshkar and rising star Radha Mangeshkar. The nine-day festival is set to welcome visitors from October 16, 2012. Pune is easily reached from Mumbai, with a variety of flights leaving from London Stansted.
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UK travellers are far more able to spot famous landmarks abroad than those in their home country, a survey suggests.
Every participant in travel agency sunshine’s survey managed to recognise the Eiffel Tower in Paris, but just 77% spotted that a UK landmark was in fact Stonehenge.
Indeed, Sydney Opera House and San Francisco’s Golden Gate Bridge proved to be far more famous among Brits travelling from London Airports such as Gatwick, Heathrow, Stansted and Luton than Trafalgar Square and the London Eye.
This is despite the fact that UK tourists live in the country, and many may have even travelled past such landmarks on the bus to the airport.
There were 1,714 British travellers who took part in the survey, 98% of whom recognised the pyramids in Egypt, while 96% picked out the Statue of Liberty in New York and 95% were able to name the Great Wall of China.
While Big Ben was recognised by 93% of UK holidaymakers, neither Trafalgar Square nor the London Eye were in the top 10 of the most recognisable landmarks.
Sunshine co-founder, Chris Clarkson, said: “I actually can’t quite believe that more UK-based landmarks didn’t feature in the top 10 here. “To see that more people recognised the Golden Gate Bridge above the likes of the London Eye and Trafalgar Square is a bit of an eye opener.”
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New York has topped a poll of favourite long-haul holiday destinations in new research conducted by Hayes & Jarvis, the tour operator. After a large campaign by Thai Airways the popularity of Thailand rose and it registered second on the list.
The rest of the list featured the Maldives in third, Las Vegas in fourth, Mexico in fifth and sixth was Mauritius. The top ten was completed by Dubai, Florida, St Lucia with Antigua in tenth. Japan, Cambodia and Vietnam were also shown to be in a vibrant state. Many of these destinations can be reached from Heathrow, Stansted, Gatwick and Luton airports. Buses connect all these airports to each other and provide a link to and from central London.
Elsewhere, a study by Post Office Travel Money put Sri Lanka top, for the third year in a row, as the best long-haul destination as regards value-for-money.
The survey was conducted by calculating the cost of the 12 most typical tourist items in 32 locations. This registered only £43.85 in Sri Lanka with Vietnam second with £52.37 and Bali in third at £53.48.
The dearest place to visit was South Korea at £166.92. Mexico, at £60.48, was the most economical on the American continent while Washington DC was the best value financially in the US at £75.52. Gambia with £61.14 was the best value in Africa.
