Easter holiday hikes punish families
Parents treating their kids to a family holiday during the Easter break will be hit by massively inflated holiday premiums, research from Santander Cards has revealed.
The card provider analysed the cost of a holiday for a family of four in the run up to Easter across five popular destinations - Florida, Crete, Gran Canaria, Lanzarote and the Algarve. It found that families face an astonishing premium of 119 per cent on average for jetting away the week commencing 28 March - when schools start closing - compared to the week commencing 25 April, when schools have all re-opened.
Those travelling to Gran Canaria from Manchester airport will be hardest hit, incurring a premium of 214 per cent. Families will pay £8,894 for flights and accommodation the week commencing 28 March, compared to just £2,832 a few weeks later, making it more than three times more expensive to travel to Gran Canaria in the run up to Easter than during term time.
Families flying from London Gatwick to the sunshine of Orlando, Florida, will find themselves in a similar situation. The cost of going away drops from an astounding £8,886 during the Easter break to a more palatable £3,123 in term time.
The lowest premium can be found on Easter breaks to the Algarve, Portugal, which cost on average just 37 per cent more compared to when the kids are back at school.
The findings follow figures released last week by the Department for Children, Schools and Families, which show that the second most commonly reported reason for absence in the 2008/9 school year was family holiday. Around 5.9 million school days were lost due to parents taking their children on holiday during term time, of which one in five (19 per cent) were taken without permission.
Emma Roberts, Director of Santander Cards, comments: "Parents with children at school face a huge premium if they want to take them away during the Easter break. Given the price hikes it's not surprising that many parents choose to take their family holiday during school time.
"However, there are other steps that holidaymakers can take to cut out unnecessary costs when going abroad this Easter. Holidaymakers should make sure they only spend on a credit card abroad that offers them fee-free foreign usage, such as the award-winning Santander Zero Credit Card, which has no fees for foreign usage anywhere in the world."
The research by Santander Cards also found that Easter package holiday prices carry a slightly higher premium for families flying from London Gatwick rather than Manchester, at an average of 128 per cent compared to 112 per cent.
Earlier this year, Santander announced its latest initiative to reward existing customers. Customers who have a current account or mortgage with either Santander UK or Alliance and Leicester can now apply for the award winning Santander Zero Credit Card and benefit from a zero per cent balance transfer fee for 12 months, in addition to the existing Zero benefits of fee-free foreign transactions anywhere in the world, zero per cent interest on purchases for three months, and no cash advance fee.