We're all going on a summer holiday

By Megan Lane
BBC News Online

Tony Blair and family are spending their holiday in the sun at Sir Cliff Richard's hideaway in Barbados. But where are the rest of us going for our summer break?

Once upon a time, gadding off abroad was beyond the reach of most holidaymakers. Anywhere past Dover was exotic and a foreign trip probably meant emigrating to the furthest reaches of the Commonwealth.

Ordinary Britons headed for the pebbly shores of local resorts, or for the lakes and hills of this green and pleasant land.

Holidays abroad were almost exclusively the playground of the well-to-do and the intrepid - in 1950, Britons made just 4.5m trips overseas. The few British travellers on the Continent would wave or toot their horn at the sight of a fellow countryman.

The Blairs' host in the Caribbean, Sir Cliff, immortalised this kinder, gentler age of travel in the 1963 film Summer Holiday, when his gang transformed a double-decker bus into a motel on wheels and sang their way across Europe.

"In the 1960s, when the average income was about £15 to £20 a week, a flight to the US cost £200 - you could get a flight today for that kind of price," says Sean Tipton, of the Association of British Travel Agents.

OUR FAVOURITE PLACES TODAY Spain: most Brits head for the Balearic or Canary Islands, or the Costa del Sol France: all regions are popular Ireland: to visit friends and family, or Dublin for city breaks Greece: the islands, esp Corfu, Crete and Rhodes Italy: city breaks to Rome, Venice and Florence

By the end of the decade, higher disposable incomes and cheaper charter flights opened the way to mass tourism.

In 1970, the number of holidays taken abroad had shot up to almost 8.5m. And where did Brits jet off to? The Costa del Sol by charter flight, of course, just as we do today by the no-frills planeload.

"But Greece, for instance, wasn't popular until at least the late 70s," says Mr Tipton. "Most of the islands didn't have airports - holidaymakers had to fly into Athens and get a ferry out." An option only viable for those seriously rich in time or money - or both.

Each subsequent decade has seen an increase of about 100% in the number of trips taken abroad - from 17.5m in 1980, to 31m in 1990 and 56.8m in 2000.

New Europe

Much has been made of how we're getting more adventurous, and taking more holidays both at home and abroad. But our favourite destinations are much the same as 10 and 20 years ago: Spain, France, Ireland, Greece and Italy.

Today travel abroad has been well and truly democratised. No longer does a break abroad necessarily mean Disneyland or the packed beaches of Torremolinos. There is an increasingly well-trodden path from Vietnam to Dubai, the Maldives to Sydney.

Even near neighbours such as France and the Netherlands have opened up, thanks to improved links to the Continent's fast trains and provincial airports clamouring for the attentions of the increasingly popular budget carriers. It is quicker and easier than ever to escape the UK, be it for a weekend in Amsterdam or a month in Provence.

The map for the next boom region is about to be unveiled. Come autumn, low-cost carriers such as Ryanair will add new routes and the smart money is on central and eastern Europe.

OUR TOP CITY BREAKS Paris, Amsterdam, Bruges and Rome are favourites Prague is fast catching up, with a 121% jump in popularity ATBA figures

Lynn Hughes, of Wanderlust magazine, expects the countries that once made up Yugoslavia to be to the fore. Croatia, for instance, has been tipped as one of this year's hottest destinations by many in the travel industry.

"But for our readership - people who prefer to go off the beaten track - Croatia is already passé. I'm commissioning articles on Montenegro for next year."

Tuscany is soooo 2000 - this year it's the Caribbean

As she flicks through the very first issue of Wanderlust, published 10 years ago, the destinations covered will still sound a siren call to today's holidaymakers.

"Let's see, there's Ecuador - described as a 'little known corner' - Tuscany, a national park in Texas and Avebury in Wiltshire," Ms Hughes says.

"Content-wise, it's not terribly different. What really has changed about the way we travel is how we keep in touch with those left behind. Once we used Poste Restante and postcards; today it's internet cafes and mobile phones."

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Are you going to pastures new this summer? Let us know, using the form below.

This weekend I am flying off to visit a country I did not expect to go to for some years. My wife and I are off to her homeland of Iraq for three weeks, specifically the Kurdish areas in the north.
Stuart, UK

I'm about to take a trip to the Altai Republic, a little-know corner of Russia. I'll be joining a scientific expedition as a volunteer for two weeks studying the snow leopard population.
Andrew Kenzitt, USA (ex UK)

Having already spent 2 weeks canoeing in Wales, and 5 days in the Inner Hebrides this year, I'm going to make it a hat-trick and spend my remaining week's leave in the Lake District. So many of my friends tell me of their trips around the world, but none of them have seen the parts of our own island that I have - and they call me adventurous!
Jonathan, England

We are about to go to Minnesota and then north to the Canadian border for a canoe trip. It's heaven for canoe freaks and a wonderful peaceful place without streets, engines and houses.
Elke, Austria

Having just returned from a nine-month world tour which encompassed four continents and ended with a bout of malaria and typhoid in India, my boyfriend and I are planning to go to the exotic island of Wight.
Sasha, UK

I've just got back from Essentuki in the region known as Caucasian Mineral Waters. A trip into the unknown for me but a visit home for my wife. The visit wouldn't have been possible without a local guide, as it's purely geared to Russian health tourists. Hydro-massage is invigorating (if you like cold fire hoses). There are interesting contrasts between modern and old Russia, and what works well - the railways, on time and cheap - and what doesn't, like water and sewage systems. No big city conveniences in the deep south.
Gerry Cobb, Russia

My husband and I went on a superb city break to Stockholm in June. A breathtaking city with fantastic architecture, 14 islands with bridges connecting. What a pleasure to experience a part of the world so different to mundane European beach hotspots!
Susan Manning, England

Rail has become the new classic travel experience. On an intercontinental train, you eat in a restaurant, sleep in a bed, and get to see the countries you travel through. It's the only way to destinations not accessible by mass tourism being flown to by the plane-load.
Martin Hayes, England

My girlfriend and I are finally fulfilling my childhood dream and visiting the beautiful island of La Digue in the Seychelles. No cars, the only means of transport are bicycle, ox-cart or foot. No mobile telephones or internet cafes - sheer heaven.
Keith Slater, Brit in Germany

Instead of the usual 'lads' holiday to the Greek or Balearic isles, which are now more expensive than Britain for many things, we're off to Rio to spend 2 weeks on a beach. It'll cost about the same!
Simon, England

We're about to go to Bikini Atoll in the Pacific, site of the US atomic weapons testing after WW2. The first tests were conducted on a fleet of warships, and their wrecks offer some of the best scuba diving in the world. But the plight of the Bikinian people is often overlooked. As the atoll isn't fit for long-term habitation, they've been "housed" on a small island where they can't be self-sufficient. They now rely on supply ships and are losing the traditions and skills of their ancestors.
Keith