One thing the credit crunch won’t stop us doing is flying abroad on budget airlines. It’s still inordinately cheaper to holiday on the Continent than it is in the UK.
Just look at the figures. A week’s package holiday on the Costa del Sol booked through the internet will set you back about £250 per person – flights and hotel. Try taking the equivalent beach holiday here in Blighty – in Cornwall, for example – and you’ll have forked out the same amount in petrol, food and accommodation by the end of the second day.
Wouldn’t it be great if we could all stay in this country for our annual holidays? We’d be helping the national economy at the same time as cutting down our carbon footprints. But unfortunately our wallets can no longer handle the strain. It’s enough to make you emigrate.
Back in May I took my wife and two kids down to Devon to stay at my parents’ house. Accommodation was obviously free, but at the end of a long weekend we had still managed to fork out more than £500 on food, booze and petrol. Had we all flown to Spain (the kids are under two, so they go free) we could have enjoyed a similar weekend for £100 less. Plus the food would have been a lot tastier.
And if you don’t believe my rather anecdotal evidence, then what about a trusted survey? Teletext Holidays discovered that a weekend in Majorca was on average £100 cheaper than an equivalent weekend in London. Insurance company More Than found that half of us are mightily concerned about the environmental impact of flying abroad but see no alternative to foreign travel unless UK costs drop dramatically.
Until Rip-off Britain stops taking us to the cleaners, this situation isn’t going to change.