Prices of summer holidays up £400 in just two years

FAMILY holidays to popular summer destinations are an average of £400 more expensive than two years ago.

And tourists can face price hikes of up to 70 per cent on identical holidays depending on which UK airport they use.

Holidaymakers flying from Glasgow, Birmingham and Cardiff generally face much higher prices, according to a study by travel currency experts FairFX.

The average price of a family holiday after schools break up at the end of July has risen 11 per cent in two years, up by £328 to £3,439. The cost of a holiday earlier in July has increased by £488 – 21 per cent – to £2,805.

The study looked at the prices of more than 350 package holidays for a family of four to four destinations in 2016 and 2018.

It found the cost of trips to Tenerife, the Canary Islands, and Majorca have seen the biggest increases. Holidays to Tenerife are up by 32 per cent to an average of £3,038 in termtime, and by an average of 31

per cent to £3,705 during the school break. For Majorca, the average term-time holiday in July is up 22 per cent to £2,639, and a trip later in the summer is up 18 per cent to £3,438.

The research shows there is still a heavy penalty for families who wait for the school summer break to take a holiday.

However, the average difference between term-time and out-of-term holidays has fallen from £933 in 2016 to £455 this year, FairFX said.

The study also found a big variation in prices when travelling from different airports.

For example, an all-inclusive First Choice break in Tenerife from July 15, was 70 per cent more expensive – an extra £1,834 – when flying from Glasgow rather than Leeds.

Overall, Leeds Bradford Airport was the best value, with an average trip costing £2,367 compared with Cardiff’s £3,252.

FairFX chief executive Ian Strafford-Taylor, said operators ‘seem intent on profiteering from family time’.

‘Profiteering from family time’