London, April 1, 2009:Cheapflights.co.uk, the pioneer of and an international leader in independent online flight price search and comparison, together with trivago.co.uk, the hotel price search site and consumer hotel review site, have compared Eurozone March air fares and hotel prices against a year and six months ago respectively.
The Bank of England’s average Sterling / Euro rate for March has dropped 12 per cent year-on-year. Hence, due to the strength of the Euro, the Eurozone has suffered as a destination from the UK. Conversely, non-Euro mid and long-haul destinations have become more popular in Cheapflights’ UK search rankings over the past year as consumers look to stretch their holiday budgets further. Combined with the worldwide credit crunch this has driven down almost all Eurozone air fares and hotel prices compared in this survey. Cheapflights' data was from airfares taken from its Handpicked Deals pages in March 2008 and 2009. Hotel prices from trivago’s monthly hotel price index from September 2008 and March 2009 were used to establish hotel pricing comparisons over the past six months.
Destination Air Fare *%+/- on Mch 2009 Hotel Price**%+/- on July 2008
France Paris £110 +20% £120 -10%
Paris Eurostar £59 -30%
Nice £28 -75% £85 -13%
Cannes £28 -75% £86 -25%
Spain Barcelona £47 -40% £93 -18%
Malaga £43 -53% £72 -12%
Madrid £38 -51% £95 -10%
Italy Rome £89 Unch. £109 -17%
*Return Fare Inc. Taxes ** Price per room
Francesca Ecsery, General Manager, Cheapflights.co.uk, commented: “The trend over the past year has definitely been away from the old European destinations to places where that holiday pound goes that bit further. However, as can be seen there are some incredible return European city air fare deals around compared to a year ago. Also, accommodation prices in many cities in Europe have dropped significantly – therefore, don’t dismiss a European City Break because prices for fares and hotels have definitely been discounted significantly and are all less than two hours away!”
Trivago’s Managing Director, Malte Siewert, added: “We are also noticing an increase in searches for hotels further afield, but even with the weak pound it is still possible to find good hotel deals in Europe by comparing prices. Over the past six months we have seen a drop in hotel prices in southern Europe.”
Contacts:
Cheapflights Ltd: trivago GmbH
John Barrington-Carver; Corporate PR Sian Williams, PR Manager
Tel: +44 (0) 207 467 3535 Tel:+44 203 002 5995
Mobile +44 (0) 7831 655 630
e-mail: corporate-pr@cheapflights.com Email: sian.williams@trivago.co.uk
