01/05/2004 00:00
By Humphrey Carter
THE summer holiday season officially gets under way in the Balearics today, but it is going to be a slow start.
In the UK, summer holidays sales, in general, are 15 to 10 percent down on this time last year.
However, while the more traditional European destinations, such as Spain, are selling as well as usual right now, holiday sales to the United States are rocketing.
Keith Betton, head of corporate affairs for the Association of British Travel Agents, said in Majorca yesterday that the primary reason for travel agents' frustration in the UK is the strength of the Euro.
There's nothing we can do about the strong Euro apart from sit it out, but while it is making people either think twice or wait before booking a Euro zone holiday, the weak dollar is attracting Britons to the States in their droves.
Britons have one holiday in the States every five years, more or less, the other four in Europe, and with the Pound so strong against the dollar, many families are heading across the Atlantic.
Perhaps they may have to pay out slightly more for the actual holiday, but they are getting more for their money once in their destination, Betton said.
Their money is going a lot further when they go out, eat and drink etc.
In 2002, both the Euro and the dollar were 1.55 to the Pound, now the Euro is 1.4 and the dollar 1.8 and the strong Euro is obviously having an impact on family holidays, he explained.
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