Savvy travellers set off on a mission

More than 2,000 people applied to take part, but today 15 of Britain’s savviest travellers will head off on a mission to discover the ultimate travel tips from around the world in the ebookers £5k challenge.

The group of smart travellers, led by TV presenter Gail Porter and her six year old daughter Honey, are taking part in a worldwide travel challenge set by ebookers, one of Europe’s leading online travel agents, which will see them each visit a destination around the world to uncover real life gems of destination information which cannot be found in standard guide books.

The seven groups of travellers who battled for the chance to take part in the challenge, will travel more than 11 thousand miles within a combined budget of £5,000, visiting a variety of popular holiday destinations from Dubrovnik to Dubai, to highlight how holidaymakers across the country can make the most of their holidays this year, whilst keeping the cost to a minimum.

According to a recent study conducted by ebookers, 63% of Brits still regard an annual holiday abroad as an absolute necessity and would be willing to cut back on nights out and supermarket luxuries to ensure they can still afford a trip overseas. 70% of the women questioned even revealed they would reduce the amount of clothes they buy in 2009, to save for their annual trip abroad!

Claire Howard Jones, Head of Marketing at ebookers comments: “We’ve split the £5k travel fund between our group of savvy travellers and challenged them to travel the world, to prove that even when funds are tight you can still get away for that essential holiday. Our real life challengers will unearth those insider travel gems regular guidebooks never cover, which will be shared at ebookers.com for other travellers to benefit from to ensure they really make the most of their holiday this year.”

Gail Porter will be heading to Miami with her daughter Honey to show how a mother and daughter can get the most out of a trip to the USA. She comments: “I’m really excited about the trip – I have a very inquisitive nature so am hoping to discover some great little gems of information from my destination. I’ll have my junior counterpart with me as well and we are both very excited to take on the challenge!”

The other ebookers £5k Challengers who were chosen to take part include:

Single traveller: Marcus Willan from Wood Green travelling to Salzburg, Austria
Couple: Jane Jin and her partner Jinkang Lee travelling to Dubrovnik, Croatia
Business traveller: Andrew Wilson travelling to Dubai
Family: Claire Salt & her three young daughters travelling to Paris, France
Hen party: Vicky Marks, Chief Bridesmaid and fellow hens travelling to Marbella, Spain
Friends: Sarah Douglas & Mark Bashford travelling to Barcelona, Spain

Claire Howard Jones comments: “The time has come for the challengers to jet off! They’re ready for their mission - loaded with questions and tasks to find those hidden secrets and we’re very excited to see what they discover along the way.”

If you have a question that you want Gail and the other travellers to find an answer to while they are away then email ebookerspressoffice@redconsultancy.com with your request and the Smart Bookers will endeavour to help.