After a summer in which many holidaymakers paid unprecedented prices for Mediterranean trips, the tables have turned – with travel firms and airlines cutting prices dramatically to fill aircraft seats and hotel beds during the autumn.
The Independent has found a Tui holiday departing from Birmingham on Tuesday 19 September for a week for just £167 per person – including flights (with luggage), transfers and self-catering accommodation in Cala Bona on the island of Mallorca.
For holidaymakers who like to have meals included, easyJet Holidays has priced a departure on Wednesday 20 September from London Gatwick to Marmaris in Turkey at £289, half-board. The figure from the tour operator offshoot of Britain’s biggest budget airline also includes afternoon/evening flights, baggage, transfers and a room at the Hotel Kivilcim – with dinner and breakfast included.
Booking the flights alone (with luggage) rather than the holiday actually costs more than the package price.
Jet2 Holidays, the biggest tour operator in the UK, is selling a week on the sought-after Greek island of Santorini, departing from East Midlands airport on Friday 22 September, for £328 per person, staying at the Andreas Studios in the resort of Parissa.
As airlines survey the number of empty seats to and from southern Europe in the month ahead, they are also cutting prices.
Flying out on Ryanair from Belfast International to Milan Bergamo on Tuesday 26 September, returning a week later, costs £37 return.
Departing on the same date and returning after 16 days, Wizz Air has a return flight from Luton to Thessaloniki in Greece for £49 return.
Flights on Wizz Air from Luton to Bulgaria’s Black Sea coast are around £70 return on a number of dates in September and October.
The Canary Islands, which are normally in high demand year-round, are seeing weak demand and therefore lower fares. The fare with the lowest price in pence-per-mile is a one-way deal on Ryanair from Bristol to Tenerife on Wednesday 27 September costing £20 for 1,764 miles – a rate of 1.13p per mile.
The bus from Bristol city centre to the airport, fare £9, is exactly 100 times more expensive, per mile.
British Airways, meanwhile, has extra appeal as an airline that has a generous cabin baggage allowance: two pieces with a combined maximum weight of 46kg. From Gatwick to Faro on Saturday 30 September, returning on Thursday 5 October, the fare is £108 return.
Paul Charles, chief executive of travel consultancy The PC Agency, said: “Tour operators are now having to ‘pump-prime’ the market for the autumn season. It’s no wonder that bargains are starting to appear amid the economic backdrop.
“One thing is for certain for consumers: they will see many more deals like this over the coming weeks.
“So shop around and make sure you do your research before choosing any particular deal because others will emerge.”
Half-term week, which for many schools in England and Wales is 21-29 October, sees a predictably sharp rise in fares. The £20 Ryanair trip from Bristol to Tenerife increases 13-fold to £260 on Sunday 22 October.
All figures researched direct with the airline and tour operator websites on the afternoon of Wednesday 13 September.
