Holiday prices to rise

The tour operator Thomas Cook expects the price of holidays for British travellers next summer to rise by 7% as a result of escalating oil prices and the weakness of the pound against the euro. Thomas Cook, which merged with MyTravel last June, has said it will reduce capacity for next summer by about 5% and in anticipation of changing demand patterns, has already begun to promote cruise holidays and breaks to destinations outside the Eurozone for next year. Turkey features strongly as the pound is strong there. The company went on to say that overall holiday bookings for this summer were already down and that it has reduced its Summer 2008 capacity by 9%, including a 22% reduction for short-haul destinations.