News Archive

Sunshine getaways for Bank Holiday.

As Brits head off in search of the sun for the May Bank Holiday, low fares airline easyJet says that holidays in Spain and Portugal are most popular.

The budget airline expects more than 450,000 people on its flights over the May Bank Holiday and says the nation’s favourite destinations are Alicante, Faro and Malaga.

But the most popular city break destination is closer to home – Edinburgh. Next most popular city break destinations are Amsterdam, Barcelona and Geneva. The latter also owes its popularity to people seeking a late skiing holiday.

Brits want cheap holiday deals.

Despite the credit crisis, consumers in Britain remain committed to taking a holiday this year and many plan to take advantage of the weak dollar to visit the US and Canada.

As people start to tighten their belts, 66% said they would search for travel deals in order to get the best price. Self-catering holidays were popular with 60% as a way to save money rather than eating meals out, while 30% said they would take less luggage to avoid excess baggage fees.

Holidays to the USA are clearly more popular as 65% said they were interested in travelling to North America to take advantage of the strong pound. But despite the weakness of the pound against the euro, 73% stated they would still take holidays in Europe.

Late summer sun holidays are also popular, with 35% saying they plan to take a holiday in September or October. In contrast only 25% admitted to planning to take a break abroad in the peak holiday months of July and August.

Save the pounds, Take a break beyond the EuroZone.

Holidays in Western Europe will be at their most expensive for years this summer, a consequence of the euro stealthily building up its muscles. Last week the pound was trading at around €1.24, making each Euro worth around 80p, an increase of 17 per cent on a year ago. If you haven't already booked a summer break, especially for the whole family, it may be worth looking beyond those favourite playgrounds of Spain, France and Italy to European countries outside the Eurozone, or ones that have not yet joined the European Union.

Generally speaking, the further east you head in Europe, the cheaper the cost of living and, traditionally, the cheaper the price of a holiday. No surprise, then, that many tour operators are reporting a rise in bookings in Eastern Europe. According to the Post Office, dinner for two, in Turkey, including wine, costs £30.14 compared with £42.05 in Italy.

Farewell to the SuperSaver as train tickets change to simplify travel.

Cheap day return, SuperSaver and Apex tickets are to vanish with about 70 other fare categories in the largest overhaul of rail ticketing since privatisation, train companies will announce today.

Consumer groups welcomed the replacement of the confusing array of train tickets with four new categories, but said fares were still too expensive.

The Association of Train Operating Companies (Atoc) pledged that the introduction of one standard advance ticket type from next month and three "on the day" tickets in September would not result in fare increases.

But there are fears that the disappearance of so many advance and day of travel tickets across the rail network could allow some train operators to replace cheap deals with more expensive standard fares.

BA in new New York route.

Some good news from British Airways, which has announced new routes in light of the 'open skies' agreement that allows more flights between Europe and the US.

The national carrier will start daily flights from Gatwick to New York JFK on October 27 with returns starting from £325.90 per person.

The new flights mean that the airline will fly 62 times each week from the capital to JFK as the Gatwick flights will operate in addition to 55 weekly flights from Heathrow.

BA will also start new shorthaul routes from Gatwick in October with daily services to Oporto and Valencia with return flights starting from £88 and £117.20 respectively. Second daily services from Gatwick to Alicante and Turin will also be added from the end of October.

Meanwhile, the airline's daily flight from Manchester to New York JFK will be suspended in October with the plane flying the route beginning to operate from Heathrow.

The open skies agreement between the EU and the USA became effective at the end of March.