Summer holidays at winter prices

"Peak" season this year is just 17% more expensive than off-peak in wake of lockdown

Canny holidaymakers normally travel outside the school holidays if they can, right? Not this summer!

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Our latest analysis shows that this year, travelling during the normal school holiday "peak season" is barely more expensive than the traditional off-peak, which starts in September. With prices down for everything - flights, package holidays, overseas theme parks and all the holiday extras like airport parking that make a trip hassle-free - this could be the year to take advantage of the savings and top up your tan at the height of summer, rather than the tail end.

We analysed the best prices available for July, August, September and October on the main flight aggregation, package holiday, online travel agent and overseas theme park websites, finding the average difference between mid-August and late September was just 17%. Even by October the difference was only 20%. For holiday essentials such as airport parking,the August "peak" is averaging just 3%-4% more expensive than September and October when everyone gets back to school

With holiday favourites such as Italy, Greece and Croatia offering some of the best deals, sun-seekers won't have to compromise on the destination of their summer escape either.

Destination	Cheapest flight, Aug	Cheapest flight, Sep
Milan, Italy	£17	£18
Venice, Italy	£18	£34
Faro, Portugal	£27	£26
Vienna, Austria	£21	£19
Copenhagen, Denmark	£21	£18
Bucharest, Romania	£27	£27
Oslo, Norway	£28	£24
Lisbon, Portugal	£35	£26
Berlin, Germany	£43	£28
Corfu, Greece	£49	£31

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Destination	Cheapest package, Aug	Cheapest package, Sep
Budapest, Hungary	£95	£102
Rome, Italy	£113	£109
Ulcinj, Montenegro	£120	none available
Venice, Italy	£123	£116
Rhodes, Greece	£141	£114
Vienna, Austria	£144	£154
Florence, Itlay	£152	none available
Dubrovnik, Croatia	£154	£137
Berlin, Germany	£158	£169
Corfu, Greece	£159	£86

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Seamus McCauley, editor at Holiday Extras, explains.

"Every year families are dismayed to find themselves paying twice as much for a holiday during the school holidays as they might have paid once the kids are back at school - when of course they can't go. That's just supply and demand - when more people want to travel, prices go up.

This year, while we're seeing holiday bookings recovering strongly after lockdown, they're still not up to the same levels as this time last year. Both our surveys and booking data say that about 50% of last year's British holidaymakers plan to fly away before the end of the year.

Some resort hotels and restaurants have responded by staying closed, and there's fewer planes in the sky too. But there's still more people competing for those travellers than usual - so what would normally be peak season and prices heading towards double those during off-peak is seeing premiums of less than 20%. That means if you're planning a trip - even if your plans aren't tied to the school year - high summer is pretty much as good a time to go as autumn or winter. There are great deals to be had, lots of tourist spots are quieter than usual, and just this once you can get the very best of the summer weather without paying summer prices for the privilege."

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