CYPRUS IS the second most expensive of Britons’ 10 favourite holiday destinations in terms of daily spending, according to a new Sunshine Price Index from Teletext Holidays.
The index has been designed to help people manage their holiday budget and is updated daily to take exchange rates into account.
It shows that the basket of 10 standard items used to measure the cost of day-to-day holiday spending currently costs the equivalent of UK£75.39 in Cyprus, compared to £66.61 in Greece, £62.89 in Egypt and £61.25 in Turkey. The same “basket” in the UK costs £71.33.
The “cost basket” includes; a cup of coffee, a bottle of lager, a bottle of Coke, a bottle of mineral water, sun-cream, postcard, insect repellent, a packet of cigarettes, an English newspaper, plus a three-course meal for two (including a bottle of house wine) in a local restaurant.
Of course, daily spending while on holiday is not the whole story. The typical cost of a three-star half-board late deal in Turkey is £237 (€277) per person and an all-inclusive break is £282 (€329) per person.
A three-star half-board holiday in mainland Spain is £268 (€313) per person, with an all-inclusive break costing £286 (€334) per person, added to the daily “cost basket” of £64.82.
The “cost basket” in Bulgaria is the lowest on the index at just £40.88 sterling per day, but the typical cost of a three-star half-board holiday is £395 (€461) per person.
Another piece of unwelcome news for a range of tourism-related businesses in Cyprus is that holiday spending is becoming a big issue for those going abroad.
Teletext Holidays has already seen significant growth in all-inclusive searches, as people look to limit the extras they will have to pay for once they get to their destination. Some 42 per cent of searches in June were for all-inclusive trips, up from 33 per cent in June 2008.
Alison Steed, an independent money expert who helped to compile the Sunshine Price Index, said: “There has been a sharp increase in the number of people booking all-inclusive holidays this summer, so they can eat and drink as much as they like without worrying about getting a big bill at the end. That also negates the impact of an unfavourable exchange rate, as there isn’t so much to buy when you get there.”
According to the official June figures, tourism revenues in Cyprus fell by 23.6 per cent compared to last year, while the six-month figure is down 15.8 per cent compared to the same period last year.
Arrivals from the UK during the first six months of this year fell to 430,782 from 505,639 recorded in the same period last year, with the average spend per head also dropping from €642 to €579.
Taking the weaker exchange rate of the pound against the euro into account, this translates into total revenues of €249 million so far this year compared to €324 million in 2008, a fall of 23.1 per cent.
The weakening of the Russian rouble by some 35 per cent over the last year has also had an impact on tourism figures. Russian arrivals are down to 60,757 from 66,785 (a nine per cent drop), with a 6.3 per cent drop in spending per head. This translates into total revenues for the first six months of €57 million, compared to €67 million last year, a fall of 14.7 per cent.
The Sunshine Price Index can be found at www.teletextholidays.co.uk/sunshinepriceindex.
Daily cost basket
Bulgaria
£40.88
Turkey
£61.25
Egypt
£62.89
Spain
£64.82
Portugal
£65.21
Malta
£65.70
Greece
£66.61
Italy
£75.66
Cyprus
£75.39
