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The cost of all-inclusive family package holidays from the UK has risen for several popular destinations, including Spain, Cyprus, and Turkey.
According to data compiled by TravelSupermarket for the BBC, the average price for a week-long holiday in Cyprus during August has increased by 23%, from £950 to £1,166 per person.
Among the top 10 most-searched countries, only Italy and Tunisia have seen price decreases, with drops of 11% and 4% respectively, compared to 2024 figures.
Travel agents report that holidaymakers are opting for shorter stays or traveling mid-week in an effort to mitigate costs.
The top five most-searched destinations, in order, are Spain, Greece, Turkey, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), and Portugal, all of which have experienced price increases.
Trips to the UAE have seen the most significant price surge, climbing 26% from £1,210 in August 2024 to £1,525 this year.
Cyprus recorded the second-highest price increase and ranks ninth in terms of search popularity.
The data is based on online searches conducted on TravelSupermarket between April 18 and June 17 for all-inclusive, seven-night family holidays in August of 2024 and 2025.
While this data offers a snapshot of the overall trend, actual costs may vary depending on the specific destination and booking timing.
Julia Lo Bue-Said, chief executive of the Advantage Travel Partnership, an industry group for travel agents, attributes the price increases to a confluence of factors.
“These increases simply keep pace with the broader cost of doing business and reflect the reality of higher operational costs, from increased energy bills affecting hotels, to elevated food costs impacting restaurants and rising wages across the hospitality sector,” she stated.
However, she also noted that the group has observed evidence suggesting that some travelers still have discretionary income to spend.
According to her, certain customers are upgrading to more premium all-inclusive packages and reserving more expensive cabin seats on long-haul flights to destinations like Dubai.
Holiday destinations are a common topic of conversation at salons.
At Voodou in Liverpool, Ellie Mooney shared her travel plans to Turkey while getting a last-minute haircut.
“We’ve been going for the past 20 years or so. We normally book a year ahead then save up in dribs and drabs,” she said.
Hope Curran, 21, who was getting her highlights done, had recently returned from an all-inclusive holiday in Rhodes, Greece, with her partner.
“We did an all-inclusive trip because it was a bit more manageable, but it’s not cheap,” she noted.
Francesca Ramsden, 35, an end-of-life care nurse from Rossendale, has made it her mission to minimize holiday expenses by saving wherever possible and seeking out bargains.
“My husband is sick of me, he’ll ask ‘have you found anything yet’ and I’ll say no, rocking in the corner after looking for 10,000 hours.
“The longest I’ve booked a holiday in advance is two to three months and I find that the closer you get, the cheaper it is.”
She mentioned spending hours trying to find the best deals for a May half-term break to Fuerteventura for her family of four, which ultimately cost £1,600.
She now shares her budgeting tips on social media platforms.
“I’ve mastered the art of packing a week’s worth of clothes into a backpack. I always book the earliest or latest flight I can, and midweek when it’s cheaper.”
Luke Fitzpatrick, a travel consultant at Perfect Getaways in Liverpool, observed that people are reducing the duration of their holidays to save money.
“Last year we did a lot for 10 nights and this year we’ve got a lot of people dropping to four or seven nights, just a short little weekend vacation, just getting away in the sun,” he explained.
He has also noticed a trend of more individuals waiting until the last minute to book their trips.
“People are coming in with their suitcases asking if they can go away today or tomorrow,” he added.
“Yesterday we had a couple come in with their passports and we got them on a flight last night from Liverpool to Turkey.”
Source: Which? and TravelSupermarket
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