Cost of a family summer holiday to top European hotspots skyrockets by more than a fifth in a single year
Prices have risen in 13 of 16 sample European resorts – with Turkey and Bulgaria the best value places to visit, the annual Post Office family holiday report reveals.
The research, with holiday company Tui, tots up the cost of ten typical tourist items including lunch, an evening meal, suncream and drinks such as mineral water and a glass of wine.
The biggest increase is in Majorca where the total cost comes to £201.67, a 21.4 per cent rise. That makes it the second dearest hotspot, after Ibiza.
Corfu and Madeira have also had rises of more than 13 per cent to now rank among the most expensive places.
The cheapest of the 16 destinations is Marmaris, on Turkey's Mediterranean coast, where the total cost of the ten items is £128.99.
A family of four there can have a three-course meal (including wine) for £67.67 because of the collapse in the Turkish lira.
Sunny Beach in Bulgaria, which is also outside the eurozone, is nearly as reasonable, with the ten items there costing £129.47. The rise of the euro against the pound will hit British tourists.
Post Office head of travel money Laura Plunkett said: 'Visitors should also be aware that while sterling is worth a third more than last July in Turkey, local prices have increased dramatically because of the lira collapse.'
Prices have risen by 10.3 per cent in Marmaris and 17.2 per cent in Sunny Beach – the second biggest price jump after Majorca.
A Family Holiday Report study shows that 74 per cent of Britons expect to spend 42 per cent more on this year's holiday – an average of £323 extra.
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That's a political decision. I leave you to have your debate.' • Best time to visit the Louvre: top tips for your trip The daughter and granddaughter of distinguished French writers, des Cars was a respected art historian, writing a classic study of the pre-Raphaelites before she started running big Parisian museums (she was head of the Musée d'Orsay and the Musée de l'Orangerie before the Louvre). Surely it must break her heart to see thousands of people using great art merely as background for their selfies, disrupting other visitors' enjoyment in the process? Has she considered banning the use of phones, as other art galleries have done? 'I know they are trying but I simply don't know how you do it,' she says. 'We considered it when I was at the Orangerie and the security team said, 'We can't force people not to use phones.' Also I think it's dangerous to go against the times we live in, but you can remind people that they are in a cultural space and need to respect each other, the staff and the artworks.' • Mona Lisa to get her own room in the Louvre And perhaps be a bit more curious about venturing into galleries that don't contain the most famous paintings on the planet? 'We are already making changes to attract people to less-visited parts of the museum,' des Cars says. 'For instance, we could have put our new Louvre Couture [the museum's first venture into fashion] in our exhibitions space, but instead we placed it within the department of decorative arts and now those galleries get a hugely increased number of visitors, especially young people.' As the Louvre's first female director, can she do anything to mitigate the fact that the vast majority of artworks here were created by men? 'You cannot change history but there are other ways of addressing that question. In the spring of 2027 I'm programming an exhibition on the theme of amazons, ancient and modern — from Greek women warriors to powerful women today. It will be a fascinating journey.' And how is this very powerful woman enjoying her own fascinating journey? 'When I was appointed I felt ready to run the Louvre, which sounds immodest,' des Cars replies. 'Maybe I will be a disaster and someone will have to shout, 'Stop!' I don't know.' I would be amazed if anyone did that — or at least not until the mid-2030s, when she has finished remaking the Louvre for the 21st century. Additional research by Ziba Manteghi
