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Holiday tips to beat the recession

Due to the strains of the credit crunch and the fear of a looming recession, many people are tempted to keep their wallets firmly in their pockets. However, there is no need to abandon holiday plans if you know how to find the best holiday bargains.

One of the UK’s most popular travel websites, kayak.co.uk, has come up with some tips to help Brits beat the credit crunch and book the holiday they want.

In December last year kayak.co.uk took third place in the Best Travel Website category of the 2007 Telegraph Travel Awards and parent company kayak.com claims to be the largest Travel 2.0 site in the world.

Flexibility is key, says Kayak. Airfares can vary by several hundred pounds according to the day of the week. “Travelling whilst most people are still at work will save time and money, so try booking your ticket for a Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursday to save some cash and aggravation,” the company advises.

Booking holidays at the last minute is increasing in popularity, however, Kayak’s advice is to ‘lose the last minute’: “In order to protect your wallet from the increasing oil prices that are driving up the cost of flights, you’ll need to book now if it’s savings you’re after. Costs for airfare, hotels and hire cars for the most part follow the thermometer – as the temperature rises, so do the prices!”

For people who know where and on what dates they want to go on holiday, Kayak has an award winning ‘Fare Buzz’ feature. This allows you to search and track the best fares to the Top 25 Cities in a region, including Europe, the USA and Asia.

Kayak’s final tip is to ‘Go for the greenback’: “Brits can make their money stretch as far as possible by heading to any destination accepting, or linked to, the US dollar”. As well as mainland USA, this means dollar-based Caribbean islands such as Antigua, Dominica, Grenada, and St Lucia.

Book airport hotels and parking in advance with airparks to save more money on your holiday.

Published by: Kelly Pentland.

Published on: August 28 2008.