Holiday Costs and Household Budgets

Holiday expense refers to money spent on holidays either in the UK or abroad. These expenses include transportation, food, and accommodation, or package holidays.

Holidays in detail

As per a survey by ABTA, the UK travel Association, in 2013 UK people took 3.1 breaks on average. These included holidays both in the UK and overseas. As per government statistics, in 2012 the average household spent around £947 a year on packaged holidays, which included nearly £875 on holidays abroad and £78 on holidays within the UK.

How to save on holiday expenses?

One of the most efficient way of saving on holiday expenses is by looking for economical deals on sites such as TravelSuperMarket and Travelzoo.

Example 1:

TravelSuperMarket offers a choice of eight holiday destinations in Greek Islands at prices of £149 to £940. Some of these destinations include Rhodes, Kos, Corfu, Crete, and Kefalonia.

Taking the example of Rhodes, TravelSuperMarket offers packaged holidays from various travel operators such as Olympic Holidays, Airtours, Thomson, Manos and TravelRepublic. As of September 2014, the most cost-effective deal is from Olympic Holidays at £149 per person for seven days. The deal includes airfare, and accommodation in a 4-star hotel named Danaides Apartments. The holiday is of self-catering type, and thus it does not include food. However, you are allowed to cook your personal meals.

Apart from deals on comparison websites, here are some more tips on how to save on holiday expenses.

• Use a credit card which is overseas travel-friendly and which does not charge extra for usage overseas. Some of these cards are Halifax Clarity, Saga Platinum, and Nationwide low balance transfer fee.
• Keep a check on data roaming charges on your phone as it can be expensive to use data during overseas holidays. The recommended practice is to avoid the use of internet through phone when travelling abroad.
• Negotiate with travel agents on package holiday costs because sometimes an identical package from the same operator is charged at different rates by different travel agents.
• For the best flight deals, check out Skyscanner.com

You can find many more tips on sites such as moneyadviceservice.org.uk and moneysavingexpert.com.

Holidays as part of the household budget

Holidays have become an essential part of household budgets. According to a survey by Admiral, a car insurance firm, over 50% of families said they are willing to compromise on other household expenses so that they can take a holiday. Given the high costs involved, you should make best use of resources available online to get the maximum savings on holidays and reduce the burden on overall household finances.

Our household budget calculator can help you determine the share of holiday expenses in your overall household budget. Try it now.