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STAFF REPORTER MADRID

A quarter of the population of Spain says that it has had to look for more competitive prices in order to take a holiday this year, and more than half will be spending it with family, a Tourism ministry survey reported yesterday.

Those most likely to holiday en famille are people living in the Spanish cities of Ceuta and Melilla in North Africa (71.5%), followed by the Aragonese (62.6%) and those in Madrid (62%).

People least likely to enjoy a break with the family are the Galicians where only 45 percent will holiday with their nearest and dearest, those living in La Rioja (49.4%) and the Catalans (51%).

Going away with a partner is the next most popular way in Spain of spending a holiday. The practice is most popular of all in Catalonia where 37.4 percent go away in “two's”, in Galicia (36.3%) and in Castilla-La Mancha (33.1%). Meanwhile, whereas just 16.8 percent of Spaniards are likely to go on holiday with friends, in the Balearics nearly a fifth of holiday-makers (20.8%) choose to spend their free time this way. Only in Extremadura are more people (37.4%) likely to go away with other people other than family.

Of those Spaniards interviewed, 67.5 percent said that in recent years, what they are looking for in a holiday has changed considerably. More than a quarter are looking for “peace and quiet” or just to be “with the children and the family.” Nearly 70 percent of Spaniards routinely spend their holidays on the mainland, and according to the Tourism survey, “more than a half would like to visit the Canary Islands,” in a search for “something different,” good weather and plenty of beaches.