Price of a holiday up by £400 in 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 expert FairFX.

The average price of a family holiday 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 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, a 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 study 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.

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