Up in the air . . .

THE global flight search and travel deals platform cheapglights, has crunched over 10 billion lines of data to help Brits understand ‘when to buy and when to fly’ in 2017, potentially saving them hundreds on airfares to their dream destinations.

Andrew Shelton, Managing Director of Cheapflights said, “As our thoughts turn to booking our getaways for the year ahead, we hope our analysis helps holiday planning for 2017.

“Travellers who can be flexible with their holiday dates should earmark November and early December for a winter escape, as this period is consistently the cheapest time of year to visit many of the most popular holiday spots, including Dubai, Thailand, South Africa, Barbados and New York.”

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Majorca tops car hire survey of UK holidaymakers

THE MOST popular holiday #carhire hotspots in #Europe have been revealed, with #Majorca topping the charts as the location where most British holidaymakers choose to rent a car once they’ve reached their destination.

According to data from car hire booking agent autoeurope.co.uk, the top holiday destinations based on hiring a vehicle are: 

• Majorca 
• Milan 
• Rome 
• Barcelona 
• Pisa 
• Porto 
• Marseille 
• Gran Canaria 
• Lisbon 
• Faro 

Luckily for those heading to Majorca, Barcelona, or Gran Canaria this year, filling up the tank is cheaper here than any other top holiday spots with the average cost of fuel at €1.08 a litre.

If Milan, Rome, or Pisa is top of your list for a holiday, you’ll end up spending a bit more to get around given the cost of fuel stands at €1.37 per litre on average. Porto, Lisbon, and Faro come close with the cost of fuel at €1.33 per litre, while Marseille is slightly cheaper at €1.21.

A spokesperson for Auto Europe said: ‘Pre-purchased fuel and return empty can be useful if you’re planning a long journey and in especially when British holidaymakers find it difficult to find a petrol station abroad before returning their hire car to the supplier. However, if you don’t use all of the fuel then the supplier is unlikely to offer a refund for what is remaining.

The most popular fuel policy option among British holidaymakers tends to be ‘pick up full and return full’, which is usually the most cost effective. It’s therefore the driver’s responsibility to return the vehicle with a full tank of fuel at the end of their holiday, or the car rental supplier could charge for having to refuel the vehicle themselves.

‘British holidaymakers should carefully read the terms and conditions of the agreement with their car rental supplier to avoid any confusion around the fuel policy, such as incurring additional costs once they’ve returned the vehicle.’


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Picture Credit: 86829008@N03/25936737674 he Cathedral of Santa Maria of Palma and Parc del Mar  Majorca, Spain via photopin.com

Low-cost coach operator enters UK market; London to Paris from £9

A GERMAN low-cost coach operator is entering the UK with plans to drive down travel costs by starting London to Paris services trips from £9. FlixBus coaches will run twice a day between the two capitals from March 24 offering free Wi-Fi, extra legroom, and three pieces of luggage.

The company’s distinctive green coaches could then be seen on roads across the UK as it plans expansion onto domestic destinations.

New services, higher frequencies, and direct links to Frankfurt, Luxemburg, and Prague are planned to begin by the end of the spring, with further destinations in the UK in the pipeline.

Tickets are available via its website – www.flixbus.com – and an app.

Founder and managing director, André Schwämmlein, said: ‘The cross-border link from London to France is our first step into the market in the UK. We are soon going to connect the capital to the most popular cities in mainland Europe by day or night. And we want to extend our service to other destinations in England.”

Founded in Germany in 2013 after de-regulation of the coach sector, the company created a nationwide network within months. FlixBus is now operating in 18 European countries, and carried approximately 20 million passengers last year.

‘By combining entrepreneurial spirit and innovative technology with a traditional SME industry, we established a completely new means of transport,’ says Mr Schwämmlein. ‘We simply made buses cool again.’ 

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Best value stag and hen destinations

HOTEL SEARCH website trivago.co.uk has studied hotel prices in ten popular stag and hen do destinations. 

For the analysis, trivago selected five stag destinations (Edinburgh, Amsterdam, Riga, Prague, and Budapest) and five hen destinations (London, Brighton, Dublin, Ibiza, and Marbella). Included in company's data is the average hotel price, the potential savings between the cheapest and most expensive months and the best month to visit each destination.

London is the most expensive destination, with an average hotel price of £179 per night. This is followed by Amsterdam, Marbella, Ibiza, and Edinburgh, with prices ranging from £124 to £127 per night. The cheapest destination is Riga, at just £62 per night. This is followed by Budapest and Prague, at £68 and £78 per night, respectively.

Ibiza and Marbella are summer destinations, where up to £143 per night can be saved by visiting in off-peak months. The same is true for Edinburgh, where a hotel costs £81 per night during January, but increases to £213 during the Edinburgh Festival in August.

Trivago recommends visiting Edinburgh in November to catch the beginning of the Christmas markets. Amsterdam is best visited in July, where hotel prices dip slightly between June and August. Riga is cheap year round, so can be visited in August, when other destinations are usually more expensive. Prague is also cheap year round, and has impressive Christmas market in December.

London can be expensive, so visit in April, before prices rise for the summer. Brighton, likewise, can be expensive in summer – visit in May when temperature begin to rise. Dublin is best visited in March for the St Patrick’s Day festivities. Ibiza is best visited in summer, but try to aim for June – before hotel prices rise steeply. Marbella is also very expensive in the summer, but in October prices are much lower and temperatures still mild.

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Picture Credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/28975765@N07/20071966691">Rīga</a> via <a href="http://photopin.com">photopin</a> <a href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/2.0/">(license)

Plymouth ‘best value’ for hotel stays; London worst

HOTEL comparison site trivago.co.uk has published its annual Best Value UK City Index. The list of 26 includes cities with at least 50 hotels and an average of at least 150 reviews per hotel. The index combines hotel price data with aggregated user reviews and ratings. This year, according to the index, #Plymouth is the best value city in the UK for a hotel stay, while London is the worst value. 

At an average of £76 per night for the past year, Plymouth is also one of the cheapest UK cities for a hotel stay, following Sheffield at £71 and Nottingham at £73.

In second place is Exeter, with an index of 89.20 and an average hotel price of £82. Although price is a contributing factor to the best value index, cities must also have excellent hotel ratings. Salisbury and Inverness, for example, occupy third and fourth places despite having an average price per night of over £100 (£108 and £109, respectively).

With an index of 46.64, London is the worst value city in the UK for a hotel stay, with an index significantly lower than the other cities on the list. It is also the most expensive city, at an average of £164 per night. Following London is Manchester, Glasgow, and Oxford.

Cities ranking low in the Best Value Index are often criticized for their lack of space, leading to a lower level of comfort and poor ratings. London hotel rooms, in particular, are often described as cramped and ranked low as a result.

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Picture Credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/55847069@N03/7948672682">Iconic Landmark</a> via <a href="http://photopin.com">photopin</a> <a href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/2.0/">(license)

Malaysia woos British tourists

 
#MALAYSIA is ramping up its efforts to get a bigger share of the UK travel market by highlighting its family holiday offering.  

Theme parks, high quality accommodation and food at value-for-money prices, plus new hotels and airline partnerships are some of the top selling points being promoted by the country’s tourism authorities.

‘We need to position ourselves as a #family #destination,’ says Malaysia’s Minister of Tourism and Culture, Seri Mohamed bin Addul Aziz. ‘There’s never been a better time to go to Malaysia because the Malaysian ringitt is weak against sterling and the destination is good value for money.’ 

Malaysia is boosting its theme park offering to get more families to visit the destination and to fill the 10,000 extra hotel rooms the destination has planned, taking its total room count to 110,000.

In early 2016, Asia’s first animation theme park, Movie Animation Park Studios, will open in Ipoh, Perak, featuring several attractions including a DreamWorks Adventure Zone, and 2017 will see 20th Century Fox World open its doors in the Genting Highlands. 



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Picture Credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/37815397@N00/2209146778">local village on sibuan island :)</a> via <a href="http://photopin.com">photopin</a> <a href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/2.0/">(license), http://www.flickr.com/photos/94246031@N00/3809776253">Viewing Downtown KL from Menara</a> via <a href="http://photopin.com">photopin</a> <a href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/2.0/">(license), http://www.flickr.com/photos/27997548@N00/2565328748">Colors</a> via <a href="http://photopin.com">photopin</a> <a href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.0/">(license), 

Spain top value for half-term holidays

BRITISH holidaymakers will get the most value for their money in #Spain this half term, even though sterling is not quite as strong against the euro as it was during the summer, says Post Office Travel Money. 

Its #Half-Term Holiday Costs Barometer found Spain’s Costa del Sol to be the cheapest of 12 destinations surveyed, and 38 percent cheaper than Marmaris in Turkey, the highest-priced European resort in the survey of prices for everyday tourist essentials.

Although the Turkish lira has slumped in value against the 29 percent since last October, local prices have risen by more than that amount. This leaves UK tourists having to pay out an extra 9.1 percent on tourist staples compared with half term last year.

The eight typical tourist items surveyed – a family evening meal with drinks, coffee, beer, Coca-Cola, glass of wine, mineral water, suncream and insect repellent – add up to £68.86 in Marmaris compared with £42.49 in the Costa del Sol.

The Spanish resort was among ten of 12 destinations surveyed where the pound – currently worth 7.6 percent more against the euro than a year ago – has made the barometer basket 3.5 per cent cheaper for families. This year’s basket of essentials is also over eight per cent cheaper than it was five years ago, thanks entirely to lower restaurant prices.

Prices are also down marginally in runner-up Portugal.

Andrew Brown of Post Office Travel Money, said: ‘Price is bound to be a big consideration for families, so it is good to report a drop in the cost of tourist staples in ten of the destinations that attract holidaymakers at this time of the year. Spain is the bargain choice, but Tenerife, Cyprus, and Mombasa look great value with the promise of higher temperatures and more sun.’

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Picture Credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/39513725@N02/12776685464">Monumento a la Vaquilla</a> via <a href="http://photopin.com">photopin</a> <a href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/">(license)

Wales named best value holiday destination

#WALES offers the #bestvalue for #familyholidays, according to PromotionalCodes.org.uk, which looked at different parts of the UK to find out which one offered the best value for money for a family of four. 

The site took five popular family activities, found the average price in the region, and added them up to find a total spend. The activities included a visit to a theme park, a day at the beach, a family trip to a stately home, an educational day at a museum and a trip to a zoo.

Wales came in considerably less expensive than any other region, with the total for all five activities costing just £94.01. The South-East was the most costly place to visit coming in at £242.86. The cheapest region in England was the East Midlands, with a total spend of £144.86.

Darren Williams from PromotionalCodes.org.uk said: ‘Unsurprisingly, the South- East was the most expensive area, followed closely by London. What we did find, though, was that there are lots of free places to visit in the capital, so if you want a free day out, it’s easy to find one.

‘Generally, theme parks were the most expensive way to spend the day.’

Results in full:

Wales - £94.01
Scotland - £120.95
East Midlands - £144.86
North-East - £147.35
Yorkshire & Humberside - £150.16
North-West - £154.53
East of England - £161.80
South-West - £169.02
West Midlands - £190.35
London - £209.57
South-East - £242.86

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Picture Credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/35254353@N05/9622803554">Portmeirion 28th Aug 2013 (32)</a> via <a href="http://photopin.com">photopin</a> <a href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/2.0/">(license)

Strong £ slashes Turkey resort costs

THE surge in the value of sterling over the past month has sent resort costs in #Turkey tumbling.

The UK’s Post Office Travel Money Holiday Costs Barometer reported big resort price rises in April for UK holidaymakers in Marmaris. But a rebound in the strength of the pound against the Turkish lira has given families almost 14% more travel cash in their pockets compared with last May, making prices in the Turkish resort lower than a year ago.

But Paphos in southern (Greek) Cyprus remains the best value destination in the Eastern Mediterranean at £62.60 for a holiday basket of eight family travel essentials including meals and drinks – 12.4% lower than a year ago and 16% cheaper than in Marmaris.

Although concerns have been voiced about the possible impact of #Greece’sfinancialcrisis on tourism, Post Office Travel Money says that local prices in Greek resorts have stayed low. However, it advises holidaymakers to carry sufficient euros in cash to avoid uncertainty about the acceptance of credit cards at shops, restaurants, and bars because these are not always as readily acceptable as might be expected.

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Picture Credit: 2005-04 Belek by R-E-AL (talk | contribs | Gallery)  (German Wikipedia) - English:  This Photo has been taken with a HP PhotoSmart 612 camera.. Licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons