How to deal with the cost of travel crisis

Simon Calder’s Travel Week [View in browser]( [The Independent]( March 25, 2022 [The Independent]( Rail fares are rising, VAT is increasing on hotel rooms at home and abroad, sterling is foundering at seven-point-something francs to the pound. But don’t despair ...   Cash call: reckon on like-for-like prices rising 25-50% this summer compared with 2019 Given [the biggest drop in living standards for a lifetime](, many people will soon find themselves with less cash to spend on travel. And, at the same time, many of the components of a holiday are getting pricier at an alarming rate, at home and abroad. A week today, VAT on UK hospitality businesses will revert to 20 per cent: all other things being equal, a £60 hotel room or dinner out will cost £4 more from 1 April. [Rail fares went up at the start of this month]( by the highest amount for nine years (with the chancellor this week nudging travellers to shift from rail to road by making the biggest-ever cut in fuel duty.) For anyone hoping to head abroad, fuel for aircraft and ferries costs roughly twice what it did a year ago. Exchange rates are against us: 15 years ago you could get 50 per cent more US dollars for your pound than today. And in the unlikely event that you are old enough to remember the French franc, the former rule of thumb that there were 10 to £1 went south long ago. Even though France’s currency was replaced in 2002 by the euro, you can still compute the rate; on the night of the Brexit referendum sterling slumped from nine francs to a pound to 7.87, just what it is today. And then add in the cost of lateral flow or PCR tests to meet the requirements of your destination (though as I write, [Australia has just announced its pre-departure test rule will lapse on 17 April](). Based on journeys I have made in the past few months, my prediction for the coming summer is this: whatever you paid for travel in 2019, assume the same flight or package holiday will cost 25 per cent more. For rental cars and hotels, reckon on a 50 per cent rise in like-for-like prices. So far, I realise, you have exactly zero reasons to be cheerful. But stay with me. These are like-for-like purchases. Unlike a tin of beans or a therm of gas, travel is infinitely flexible: you can trim your horizons without diminishing the joy of a journey. I bet your most treasured holiday and your most expensive trip are not one and the same. Flexibility is the key; first with timing (shifting travel dates even by a day or two can see prices tumble, especially around the start and end of school holidays); next with destination. The single most effective way for the UK as a nation to cut its travel cloth to fit the new austerity is to stay closer to home. Flying to Mexico, the Caribbean or the Indian Ocean in July or August has always struck me as bonkers: the climate in the Mediterranean is more benign and the hinterland away from the beach more rewarding. And the budget option remains the same as it has for decades. I don’t mean a hitchhiking/wild camping trip (although the cost of that particular holiday combo remains resolutely at a pleasing £0.00); find a campsite by the coast in northern France, with supplies from the nearest market. Many ferry firms are available. Just don’t try to spend those old French francs. Top travel headlines   [I'm an image]( [Two years that shook the travel industry]( Remember "amber plus", a bizarre category that prevented travel to France last summer? Or the Foreign Office placing the Algarve (pictured) in the same risk category as central Kabul and parts of Somalia? Here's 24 months of travel restrictions. Seagulls to be kept at bay with water pistols Tourists in Venice are being supplied with water pistols at some luxury hotels to ward off aggressive seagulls. The city has a 1,000-strong population of these bold birds. One is accused of flying off with an entire steak. [I'm an image]( [Flybe 2.0: all about the revived airline]( The regional carrier that went bust in March 2020 returns to the skies next month, with a network based in Birmingham and Belfast City plus a Heathrow to Leeds Bradford link.     Tip of the week: Burrell Collection reopens   After six years of refurbishment, one of the world’s greatest personal art collections is set to reopen in Glasgow next Tuesday, 29 June. The Scottish shipping magnate, Sir William Burrell, bequeathed his vast collection of art and antiquities to the City of Glasgow in 1944 under strict instruction that the collection be kept intact. He also stipulated it should be housed at least 16 miles from the city centre to ensure that the objects would not be contaminated by Glasgow's industrial pollution. Happily, it is instead located nearer to the city centre – amid the greenery of Pollok Country Park. Superb Chinese art, exquisite stained glass and intricate tapestries, as well a breadth of fine art, will be on display once more in their magnificently revived 20th-century home. Admission is free, and it opens 10am-5pm daily (Friday and Sunday from 11am). Deal of the week: May breaks   Despite the rising cost of travel, there are still bargains to be found if you search in early May – when the main package holiday season begins. The best Greek island deal I have found for 8 May is with Tui from Gatwick to Thassos – a spectacular and very different northern isle. For £234 per person, based on two sharing, you get flights from Gatwick, a transfer including a ferry crossing and a week in self-catering accommodation. Travel voucher of the week [Save up to £200 on holidays over £700 with the easyJet holidays spring sale](   Question of the week   Vaccination rules for Spain? Q I'm traveling to Port de Soller in Mallorca. On the government website it says you must have had two doses of the vaccine within 270 days of the flight to go out. I've had all three of mine but my booster was 320 days ago. How do I stand as I have tried to book a fourth but I'm not entitled to it? A As travellers emerge from the depths of the pandemic, there are still a vast array of traps awaiting the unwary – plus a vast amount of either opaque or false information online. The current Foreign Office advice for Spain is confusing. I hope my interpretation of the rules is clearer. 1 If you have only had two jabs (or one dose of a single-dose vaccine), then protection is deemed to have expired after 270 days (almost nine months). 2 But you have completed an initial course and have subsequently been boosted at any time, that is fine – no time limit applies. Stat of the week £5.50 The average hourly wage of new crew on P&O Ferries, as revealed by chief executive Peter Hebblethwaite. His basic annual salary is £325,000.   What you might have missed   - Singapore will ease its travel restrictions from 1 April. [Pre-departure tests will remain in force for the time being.]( - Jet2 has banned a passenger for life, saying she forced crew to divert. [She has also been handed a £5,000 bill for the incident.]( - Network Rail told the FA in 2019 that the West Coast main line would close over Easter. [Manchester City play Liverpool on 15 or 16 April at Wembley.]( Simon’s diary   Every day from Monday to Friday I tackle a top travel story, or explore a topic in more detail than usual in ‘Simon Calder's Independent Travel Podcast’ – available free on [Spotify](, [Apple Podcasts](, [Pocket Casts]( or [Acast](. I find the easiest way to rush out stories is to tweet them. It’s also an easy way to contact me. My DMs are open. Though regrettably I can’t respond to every message, I do read them all. 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