HOLIDAY COSTS FALL BY 20%

HOLIDAYMAKERS can look forward to summer bargain breaks after resorts across Europe slashed their prices.

Costs have fallen more than 20 per cent over the past five years despite a dip in the value of the pound.

With prices now at their cheapest since 2012, sun-lovers can make large savings on package

deals as holiday operators launch a series of spring and summer deals.

Resort operators have been making big price cuts to offset the fall in value of the pound and draw in visitors, experts say.

The tourist exchange rate currently stands at 1.18 euros to the pound.

TravelSupermarket spokeswoman Emma Morris said: “British tourists are important to many European beach resorts, so despite the fall in the pound against the euro, restaurateurs and local shops know they need to keep prices affordable so not to put off new and returning holidaymakers.

“Competing against each other for trade they know tourists are looking for good value for their hard-earned money when in resort.”

The findings are revealed in the Post Office’s latest Money Holiday Costs Barometer which compares costs for food, drink and entertainment across 19 resorts.

Sunny Beach, Bulgaria, came out top for the fourth year where resort prices are at their lowest for five years and beat 18 other European hotspots.

Spain’s Costa del Sol was also among the favourites for sun-seeking Britons, where prices have plunged 21 per cent.

Researchers compared costs of 10 holiday items including a cup of coffee, a can of cola and a three-course meal in the 19 locations across Europe.

A basket of goods in Sunny Beach came to £37 with the Algarve at £58. Costa del Sol came in at just under £61 and Costa Blanca at £75.60. The Algarve emerged as the cheapest eurozone destination with prices down nine per cent compared with 2012.

Sunny Beach was found to be the cheapest place to eat out of 19 destinations surveyed by the Post Office.

A three-course meal for two, including a bottle of wine, costs £19.50 while a two-course lunch for two will set diners back £5.60.

HOW ironic: post the Brexit vote, the cost of Continental holidays has plunged, with families able to get good deals at 20 per cent less than the previous price.

It proves what we have been saying all along. It’s not Europe we want to get out of – just the EU.