Families booking a summer holiday face inflation-busting price hikes of up to 11.5%, an investigation has found. Consumer group Which? compared the cost of more than 8,000 package breaks this year with last year. Researchers looked at prices of holidays available last January for an August departure with those this month for the peak August getaway.
The average increase was discovered to be 4.2%, above the rate of inflation of around 2.5%, with some destinations having shot up a lot more than others. The increase risking adding hundreds of pounds to the typical cost of a couple or a family heading abroad this summer.
Which? says the jump is due to a combination of factors, from ongoing strong demand as well as higher costs for hotels and airlines. The biggest rise was on holidays to Bulgaria’s Black Sea coastal resorts, where prices have typically leapt by 11.5% since last summer. The average package break to the country has gone from £1,038 per person last summer to £1,157 this August, Which? said, a jump of £238 for a couple and potentially nearly £480 for a family-of-four.
Researchers discovered holiday prices to Italy were 7.4% more. The average cost of a package there has shot up from £1,163 to £1,249 - an increase of £172 for a couple and more with kids, depending on the deal. Which? said there had been steep price rises in upmarket Italian destinations like Lake Garda and Sorrento, which have seen increases of £94 and £81 per person respectively. There are less dramatic in regions such as Sardinia, which has seen an average rise of just £38 per person.
