A major holiday firm has confirmed a continuing high demand for long-haul holidays, despite the outbreak of swine flu in Mexico.

TUI travel, which owns Thompson and First Choice holidays said that bookings were up 2% in the last fortnight, whilst cumulative bookings dropped by 25%, with those due to fly out to Mexico selecting alternative destinations.

Of TUI’s 2,500 customers who were holidaying in Mexico at the time of the outbreak, only one tenth decided to come home before the official end of their holiday.

Thompson cancelled all its packages in Cancun and Cozumel, Mexico, until last Friday, giving customers the chance to switch destinations or cancel their holiday altogether and receive a refund.

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The consumer association Which? has accused holiday firms that refuse to compensate customers for not travelling to Mexico of acting unfairly.

Some holidaymakers following Home Office guidelines that strongly advise against travelling to Mexico because of swine flu have found that they cannot claim a refund from their holiday from tour operators, and have also been refused cover from insurers.

Holiday firms normally offer customers alternative destinations or dates, but may not give a full refund. However, some customers say they only want to go to Mexico and are not interested in an alternative holiday.

Some customers who have booked flights and hotels with separate companies have found that they have been offered different alternative destinations by each firm, and have been unable to claim a refund on either their flights or accommodation.

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Holiday operators Thompson and First Choice have cancelled their flights to Mexico after the swine flu outbreak claimed its 152nd victim.

The companies, which are both owned by TUI travel, said that they had cancelled the planned flights to Cancun from Manchester and Gatwick airports on advice of the Foreign Office, which had urged Britons to avoid travelling to the Mexico unless essential. Thompson and First Choice have already started putting their customers in Mexico on flights back to the UK.

“Whilst we do appreciate that this news may be a great disappointment to customers, we hope they will also understand that their health and safety is of paramount to Thomson and First Choice” the firms said in a statement.

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More than 1.2 million British holidaymakers risk invalidating their travel insurance by failing to inform providers of pre-existing medical conditions, new research has found.

Of these, an estimated 267,000 people with heart problems, 206,000 with respiratory problems and 474,000 with severe back pain failed to inform their insurance companies about their condition, according to a report released by Sainsbury’s Finance this week.

A further 500,000 people with medical conditions headed abroad over the last 12 months without travel insurance, the report found.

Customers with medical conditions cited fear of being refused cover, as well as potentially high premiums as reasons for neglecting to reveal the whole truth about their health to their insurance provider.

However, insurers provide cover for people with most medical conditions, and will charge only slightly higher premiums for serious conditions.

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Short breaks in Eastern European cities work out significantly cheaper than those in European destinations traditionally popular with tourists such as Paris, Bruges and Amsterdam, according to research by the Post Office.

As the Euro continues to stay strong against the pound, many tourists are heading east to non-eurozone cities such as Budapest, Warsaw and Prague, which tend to offer better value for money. These three Eastern European capitals are the cheapest of the top ten ‘alternative cities’ frequented by tourists, according to the Post Office’s ‘City Costs Barometer’.

And whereas the Sterling has generally decreased in value compared with other currencies, in Warsaw, Budapest and Istanbul it has strengthened against local currencies. The UK pound has increased 10% in value against the Polish zloty - excellent news for tourists planning on travelling to Krakow or Warsaw.

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Thousands of British holidaymakers may be choosing their holiday destination based on false assumptions as to which countries fall in the eurozone, according to a recent survey.

A report by the Post Office found that significant numbers of UK holidaymakers, concerned about the weakness of the pound and high prices in the eurozone, may avoid Europe’s cheaper destinations, mistakenly thinking that they use the euro. Others are unaware that some of the most popular destinations in Europe use the Euro.

Of the 2,000 customers interviewed for the survey, 20% were unaware that key tourist hotspots such as Greece and Portugal are eurozone members, and a staggering 43% believed that Austria, a founding member, did not use the currency.

Conversely, many tourists incorrectly thought that many of the Europe’s cheapest destinations use the euro. 33% of holidaymakers believed that Turkey, which uses the lira, was a zone member, while over a quarter said that the Czech Republic (koruna) and Hungary (forint) use the euro. Denmark has consistently been a strong defender of its own currency, the krone, yet almost half of those surveyed thought that the euro was the nation’s currency.

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Some customers who booked holidays with failed travel company XL have been refused refunds from the ATOL guarantee scheme.

The Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) which runs ATOL has told customers who booked their holiday using a credit card to go to their credit card company for compensation instead. Credit companies are obliged to refund the full cost of a holiday under section 75 of the Consumer Credit Act, which states that the bank and supplier share responsibility for any breach of contract for goods or services paid for on a credit card.

However, the consumer magazine Which? says ATOL should take sole responsibility for refunding customers.

When XL collapsed in September, 85,000 of its customers were left stranded abroad, whilst almost 250,000 had holidays they had booked with the company cancelled.

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Skiers and snowboarders who plan to skimp on travel insurance to cut the cost of their holiday could find themselves paying colossal hospital bills if they have an accident on the slopes this year, with the weak pound leading to rocketing medical expenses abroad.

Rachel Croft, head of travel at the Post Office, said, “Paying out for medical costs with no insurance has never been cheap, but the weaker pound means that the relative cost of hospital treatment abroad can be potentially much higher. Medical costs in popular eurozone ski destinations such as France, Italy and Austria could be around 18 per cent higher than this time last year. And skiiers going to Aspen or Vail in US are looking at a massive 29 per cent hike.”

According to a Post Office report, more than 10 million people are considering going on holiday without travel insurance this year as the credit crunch continues to bite. However, whilst a lost passport or suitcase is replaceable, medical fees and repatriation costs could leave uninsured consumers seriously out of pocket, or even bankrupt.

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A tour company which advertised “chav-free” adventure holidays, sparking a great deal of controversy, has defended its marketing strategy.

Adventures Abroad searched the internet for names associated with ‘chavs’ on the basis that certain names are more closely associated with particular demographic groups, and claimed in an email that no-one with these names had been on its holidays.

The tongue-in-cheek email advertising the company’s holidays was sent to 24,000 people and said that an examination of the company’s database of past customers revealed that no Britneys, Dazzas, Biancas, Chardonnays or Candices had ever been on one of their trips. Rather, customers were most commonly called John, Sarah, James, Charlotte or Lucy.

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The Post Office has released its latest Worldwide Holiday Costs Barometer as part of a report on exchange rates and costs released today. The barometer ranks 27 of the most popular destinations for British holidaymakers in terms of value for money, based on the current exchange rate and local costs for popular tourist items such as mineral water, meals out and sun cream.

This year six European countries have appeared in the top ten value holiday hotspots, including Spain, still the most popular destination for British tourists, according to cheapflights.co.uk. Cheapest of all are Hungary and the Czech Republic, where a bottle of Heineken will set you back £1.77 and £2.47 respectively. Budapest and Prague are therefore likely to be popular choices for short breaks this year. For longer breaks, it is worth looking at Turkey, Bulgaria and Croatia, which all offer beautiful beaches and plenty of sun during the summer months.

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