​​Best Bargains for a New Year winter sun holiday abroad

Post Office Travel Money recommends destinations kindest to the holiday purse

• Cyprus beats the Canaries to rate as the best value New Year holiday bargain
• Orlando is the cheapest long haul destination – despite the strong dollar
• Cancun is the survey’s lowest-priced long haul beach resort and the only destination where sterling will stretch further than a year ago

Holidaymakers who want to put Christmas behind them and escape to the sun on a bargain New Year break in early January will find the best bargains in Cyprus and the Canary Islands, according to new research by Post Office Travel Money. A survey of 12 winter sun resorts where sterling has rallied in recent weeks¹ found that UK tourists will be hard pressed to find lower prices than in Paphos, 2017’s joint European Capital of Culture².

By combining the cost of a one week holiday package (based on two sharing a room) with a daily evening meal including wine, a coffee and a beer, the overall price in Paphos is just £338.81 per person – almost 19 per cent cheaper than in the Canary Islands of Lanzarote (£416.41) and Tenerife (£417.00).

Further afield, Post Office Travel Money compared the same holiday costs in nine long haul holiday resorts and found that Orlando (£751.59) was the cheapest option for a New Year getaway. Although the US dollar remains strong against sterling, local meal and drinks prices have stayed on par with a year ago and the competitively-priced holiday package (£525 per person) means the world’s theme park capital is a bargain bet for a week away.

Cancun emerges from the survey as the cheapest long haul beach resort at £814.57 per person for a week’s holiday. Mexico’s peso is the only currency weaker against the pound than a year ago, giving UK tourists almost one per cent more cash to spend than a year ago, compared with over 15 per cent less in the USA.That weakness has helped to keep prices lower in Cancun than in Caribbean competitors like Jamaica, where a week in Montego Bay (£1,288.05) costs over 58 per cent more.

A slightly better Caribbean bet for UK holidaymakers will be the Dominican Republic.In the resort of Punta Cana, the Post Office research found that a week away at the beginning of January will cost £1,123.27 per person – almost 13 per cent less than in Montego Bay.

Another Latin-American destination opening up to UK visitors after the introduction of direct flights is Costa Rica.Prices for the barometer basket of meals and drinks in the beach resort of Tamarindo (£242.62) were cheaper than in the Caribbean islands surveyed and the overall cost of a week away totalled £1,151.62 per person.

Travelling east to South East Asia or the Indian Ocean, Post Office Travel Money found that the holiday would cost least in Phuket (£926.76).The Thai total was over £100 less than in Penang, Malaysia (£1,026.75) or Grand Baie, Mauritius (£1,049.22).

Although the cost of a holiday package to Dubai was the second-cheapest after Orlando for a long haul resort, the high price of meals and drinks in Jumeirah Beach - £661.50 for one week - made it the second most expensive destination in the survey at £1, 211.50.

Andrew Brown of Post Office Travel Money said:“Sterling’s recent rally means that holidaymakers will not have to dig quite so far into their pockets as they would have had to do a few weeks ago.However, there are big differences in prices among winter sun resorts and these can really have an impact on the overall holiday budget.

“Bargain-hunters will be well advised to add the cost of meals and drinks in resorts to the price of a holiday package to find the destination that will give them the best overall value.In places like Dubai where meal and drinks prices are high, booking all-inclusive packages will keep their costs down.”

The Post Office is the UK’s leading provider of foreign currency, offering euro on demand at over 10,000 branches and US dollars at 4,000 branches.They can also be ordered online at postoffice.co.uk for same day ‘click and collect’ at almost 3,000 branches as well as next day collection at any branch or for home delivery. 1,600 larger Post Office Branches stock 30 leading currencies while up to 70 currencies can be pre-ordered at over 11,600 branches or online at postoffice.co.uk/travel for next day branch or home delivery.

ENDS

For more information, please contact:

Gabrielle O’Gara Post Office Press Office 0207 250 2534 / 07718 977702

Gabrielle.ogara@postoffice.co.uk

Notes to Editors:

¹ Post Office exchange rates for currencies comparing December 2016 with the same date in 2015

²Package prices were sourced online from Travel Supermarket. Prices are based on the lowest available package holiday from London, departing 2-9 January 2017. All prices were accurate at the time of research and are per person based on two adults sharing, including accommodation and return flights. Evening meal prices were taken from the Post Office Worldwide Holiday Costs Barometer, except for Tenerife and Lanzarote, where research was conducted independently online.