Package holidays in Greece, Spain and Turkey soar in price

All-inclusive package holidays have jumped in price for Mediterranean hotspots including Majorca and Crete.

The average price of a week with full food and board in Majorca in Spain is up 21%. Prices for Tenerife have risen more than 22%, figures from TravelSupermarket showed.

Crete in Greece is 25% more expensive than last year.

Overall the most popular destinations, Spain, Turkey, Greece, Portugal and Cyprus have gone up by nearly 12%.

Prices for countries beyond the Med have also risen, according to the figures compiled by the price comparison website for the BBC.

That has left people like Sophie West, from Castleford in Yorkshire, paying significantly more than they did last year for the same holiday.

Sophie saved to afford her trip, and is currently in a hotel with a water park in Crete with 25 members of her extended family and her friend Sarah. She says at least having the all-inclusive deal will help keep a lid on their spending while they are there.

"It's mainly for my brothers, because they've all got kids," she says. "It's so much easier for them to know that they don't have to take any other money."

There are "ice-creams on tap" for the youngsters.

Sophie has managed to keep costs down other ways too. She booked in January when there were cheaper deals, and she got ten days holiday for less than the rest of her party are paying for seven, by flying on off-peak days.

The family could have saved money by holidaying somewhere cheaper, but even for lower cost destinations prices are up this year. A week in Morocco is 27% more expensive than last year. Bulgaria has gone up 13%.

TravelSupermarket calculates the average using the results of searches for holidays in the given destinations. While this shows a general trend, exact costs will vary depending on location and time of booking.

The average of the top five most popular destinations for UK travellers has risen by 11.9% since last year, but there is variation between countries. The average package price has risen fastest in Spain, up nearly 15%, but only by 5% in Portugal.

Compared to before the pandemic the average price across the top five destinations is up more than 30%, well above the rate of general inflation since 2019.

Sandra Ollerton, who runs Preston Travel Centre, in Lancashire says nevertheless demand remains high.

But she says some people are cutting the length of their holidays from two weeks to one to save money or finding other ways to "travel smarter".

"We're seeing an increase in multi-generational holidays, because we're finding that some of the grandparents weren't affected as much financially by Covid or the cost-of-living crisis, so they are helping out their children and their grandchildren," she says.

One common trick, to wait until the last minute to see if prices fall, may not work this year, according to Richard Singer, chief executive of TravelSupermarket.

"It is unlikely that prices will fall substantially for this summer," he says, because despite higher prices, demand is outstripping supply.

"Prices for next year are looking on a par with this year," he adds.

Source: Which?and TravelSupermarket

Beyond travel and accommodation, holidaymakers will also have to fork out more money to leave their car at the airport. The average rate per night went up by nearly 10% this year, from just over £13 in May last year to more than £14.

The cost of travel insurance is also up by around 10%.

There is one cost, however, that has come down: car hire. After spiking higher last summer as operators struggled to scale back up after the pandemic, hiring a car this August has become more affordable. For example, the average daily rate for hiring a car in Ireland dropped from £203 in August last year to just £48 this August. Rates in Croatia, Italy, Spain and the United Arab Emirates have also dropped by more than 40%.

Against that backdrop Laura Betchette, an assistant tax manager from Wakefield, and her partner James are wrestling with their travel plans.

They are getting married at the end of August, and wanted a traditional honeymoon following the wedding day, but the quotes they were given for their "dream honeymoon" was beyond their budget.

"For the Maldives for a week we were looking at between nine and ten thousand pounds," she says.

So they are postponing the trip until in November or December giving them time to put a bit more in the "honeymoon pot".

And they are working out whether booking flights and hotels separately themselves would be cheaper than an all-in-one package.

But switching destinations could bag them more savings.

They are now considering a week in Dubai, in the United Arab Emirates, the only destination out of the top ten where the average all-inclusive package price has come down since last year, at least for travellers going in August.

And any cash gifts at the wedding can always go towards the honeymoon fund too, she says.

Additional reporting by Anna Crossley