A recent survey of some of the biggest British tour operators has revealed that all the experts think that prices of our fortnight in the Mediterranean sun could be higher by as much as 20% for summer 2017. If you’ve not booked your break yet this is concerning, and blame for the price hike is being laid firmly at the door of Brexit.

Currency Exchange Rates

British tour operators charge their prices in pounds as their customer base is primarily British and they book through a high-street travel agent or through a UK website. We like booking in pounds – we know exactly where we stand. But tour operators pay fuel costs for their aeroplanes in US dollars, and pay hotel owners and coach operators in the foreign resorts in the local currency, usually euros. Since the UK took the vote to leave the EU at the end of June, the pound has fallen dramatically on the international currency against the dollar and euro, which means that everything British companies buy overseas is costing them much more. Most of the deals for hotels and fuel had been done for 2016 by the time the Brexit vote had been taken, but the real effects of the poor currency exchange rates will start to be felt for the 2017 season. The association of oil producing countries has also voted to produce less oil in 2017 in an attempt to drive up prices, and this is going to make things even more expensive for the UK traveller.

Travel Bans and Traveller Worries

One of the other main factors affecting prices is reluctance of travellers to consider certain destinations, or ban imposed by the UK government on travel. Since the terrorist attacks in 2015 in Tunisia, the country has been off limits to British holiday makers. Although Sharm El Sheikh resort itself is considered safe, British airlines are currently not flying to the airport because of security concerns, making an Egyptian holiday an impossibility too. News about terror attacks in Turkey have caused bookings to the that country to drop by almost 40% – even though the attacks have been confined to the major cities and areas close to the Syrian border, hundreds of miles from the coastal resorts. All of these factors mean that the same number of holidaymakers are competing for a smaller number of holidays to what are considered the safer destinations like Spain, Portugal and Greece, and this is pushing prices up even further.

What Can I Do To Keep Prices Down?

Booking early is always the advice given by travel agents to secure the best price, and this is certainly one option. Think about traveller out of the main holiday season of July and August, or consider looking at less well-established holiday destinations like Montenegro or     Cape Verde rather than Greece or the Canary Islands. Also check contracts when paying the deposit on a holiday – surcharges for currency fluctuations or fuel prices are not unheard of and could come as a nasty surprise.