Holiday News | Don’t shell out on the beach

The latest Post Office Beach Barometer tots up the cost of those little items you end up shelling out for.

More than one in 20 families spend more than £200 per child by giving in to demands for beach toys, ice creams and activities.

And on average parents admitted forking out almost £80 per child on beach holiday extras they hadn’t budgeted for.

Eighty-seven per cent of parents paid out for kids’ extras, also including fizzy drinks, pedalos, water parks and beach gear such as buckets and spades.

The Barometer shows a beach basket of extras is cheapest at Sunny Beach, Bulgaria, at £47.93. Alcudia (Majorca), Costa Blanca and Costa del Sol (Spain), Portugal’s Algarve and Corfu (Greece) are also cheaper than Brighton.

The priciest European beach destination was Vendée in France – its £96.28 total double that of Bulgaria’s Sunny Beach.

Taking an hour’s pedalo or kayak ride twice during a week’s holiday provides cheap entertainment in Bulgaria, Majorca and the Algarve (under £16 each for two hour-long rides) – but costs almost double that in Brighton.

And there are cheap deals on sun loungers in the eastern Med – two loungers cost under £4 in Turkey and Cyprus but FOUR TIMES as much in Croatia and even more in France.

The research also found family meals in resort restaurants could rock the holiday boat.

Researchers looked at the average cost of a three-course meal for two adults and two children in a local tourist-class restaurant including a bottle of house wine and two soft drinks.

Where to go … how destinations compare

The Algarve will set a family of four back just over £34 but a meal costs twice as much in Punta Verudela, Croatia, at £70.41 and almost three times more in Italy’s Sorrento at £98.04. Brighton was mid-table at £54.10.

Sarah Munro, Post Office head of travel money, said: “Sterling has taken a battering recently and when you combine the reduced spending power of the Pound with higher resort charges it means families will have to contend with spiralling holiday costs this year.

“Compared with July 2007, when Sterling was last strong, families changing £250 now will have the equivalent of £87 fewer in euros to spend.”

She added: “As our research shows, paying out extra for kids’ ‘must-haves’ could bust the holiday budget. The message is to pack the suitcase carefully.”

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