Huge hikes in holiday prices for Brits in 2023

The price of holidays from Britain has risen by 44 per cent in the last year, including to Cyprus, which has gone up 15 per cent, it emerged on Thursday.

Air tickets alone are up more than 50 per cent on average this year, with those to Greece and Italy being hiked by over 70 per cent.

The UK Office for National Statistics (ONS) attributed the jump in prices to airlines looking to capitalise on a big surge in demand after the pandemic years. Prices also rose due to a reduced number of flights, as well as the higher cost of fuel for aircraft, it said.

At the same time, research by the consumer protection group Which? found that the cost of package holidays from Britain had risen by an average of 19 per cent compared with last year.

Of the six popular countries for Brits surveyed, the steepest increases in the cost of package holidays were found to be for Greece, where a week-long package will cost a Briton 30 per cent more than last summer. The average cost of air tickets and accommodation for one person to Greece for one week in summer is estimated at £867, (€992) up from £667 in summer 2022.

Package holidays to Italy, Spain and Turkey are up around 20 per cent and for Cyprus, the figure was 15 per cent. The average cost of a seven-day package holiday this summer in Cyprus is estimated to be £809 compared with £705 last year. Britain remains Cyprus’ main tourism market.

The lowest increase was for Portugal up 7 per cent with the average price of a seven-day package at £705 per person.

Despite the significant year-on-year increases to nearly all destinations, the cheapest remains Spain, at £693 per person per week.

Low-cost Ryanair chief executive Michael O’Leary warned recently that the era of £9.99 flights would not return “for another year or two” due to high fuel prices.

Despite the higher costs, however, popular flight search and comparison platform Skyscanner has confirmed estimates of increased demand for tickets from Britain this year. So far bookings are 31 per cent higher than in 2019, the last year before the pandemic.