Hundreds of thousands of families are abandoning the Costa del Sol

06:30 El NACHO 0 Comments

Hundreds of thousands of families are abandoning the Costa del Sol and other traditional holiday destinations for eastern Europe and north Africa to escape the punitive euro exchange rate. With state schools breaking up, many families will spend this weekend packing their bags to go to Turkey, Croatia, Bulgaria, Tunisia and Egypt rather than Greece, Spain or France. Most eurozone countries have never represented such poor value for British travel makers, with £1 buying just €1.26. A year ago holidaymakers' money went 20 per cent further, with the exchange rate at €1.49. Those countries outside of the eurozone – but only slightly further in terms of flying time – such as in eastern Europe and north Africa have witnessed a surge in bookings, according to travel companies. Lastminute.com, the travel website, said bookings to Turkey are up more than 14 per cent, bookings to Tunisia have shot up by 95 per cent and the number of people taking holidays to Croatia has soared by 150 per cent compared with last year. Meanwhile, bookings to Italy are down eight per cent, Spain is down four per cent, Greece is down eight per cent and France has dipped by two per cent. These figures are backed up by CheapFlights, which specialises in finding air plane tickets for independent travellers.
While bookings to Barcelona have fallen by 16 per cent, tickets being bought to Dalaman, on the southwest coast of Turkey, have increased by 9 per cent.
The Co-Operative Travel Company describes the new trend as a "seismic shift".
Phil Davies, the editor of TravelMole, the travel industry website, said: "Given people are counting the pennies, the strong euro is having a significant impact on where people are going.
"Why go to Spain or France, if it will cost you so much more when you get there?"
A bottle of beer in Turkey will set you back just £1.11 – little more than a third of the price of the same bottle in France, where it costs £2.96, according to the Post Office. Prices in Greece are 22 per cent more expensive than its neighbour Turkey when it comes to a basket of popular goods such as beer, sun cream and insect repellent, due to the strong euro and relatively weak Turkish Lira.
The Association of British Travel Agents (ABTA) pointed out that while Spain was "having a poor year" official figures show that it remains clearly the number one destination with more than 12 million Britons visiting the country every year. Greece welcomes 2.2 million Britons – a million more than Turkey.
Tunisia, despite its new found popularity, attracted just 270,000 British holidaymakers in 2006, the most recent year for which figures are available from the Office of National Statistics.
However, the popularity of non-eurozone countries is no short-term blip, experts said. ABTA estimates that 1.32 million people will fly out of Britain this weekend from just the main airports.
By its calculations, bookings for Egypt are up 28 per cent and Turkey are up 20 per cent. Bob Atkinson at TravelSupermarket, the price comparison website, said: "There is a clear trend towards visiting more exotic locations, and doing something a bit more interesting or active on holiday.
"After all a lot of people have done Spain to death. Why not visit Tunisia, Egypt or Croatia – once you are there the holiday will be significantly cheaper."
Families that have not booked a holiday in the hope of catching a last minute deal to these cheaper destinations are set to be frustrated, however.
Holiday companies, anticipating the economic slowdown, have cut back capacity . This factor, combined with the fact that very few people have actually cut back on their holidays means that prices for last minute deals are high.
However, Lastminute.com has a seven nights stay a the El Mouradi Gammarth – a five start hotel in Tunisia's Gammarth resort –for just £199 per person.
The cheapest deal for a week long trip to Croatia will set you back £414 per person, according to the travel website.