Bmibaby has announced that from the 2009 winter season it will offer new flights to the city of Prague from East Midlands Airport.

The Czech capital city of Prague has proved highly popular for city breaks from the UK in recent years, due to low prices and its art and culture.

Bmibaby will be offering flights three times a week on Mondays, Fridays and Sundays commencing on the 4th December and will run until 26th March 2010.

Julian Carr, Commercial Director at bmibaby, said that these new flights would offer travellers from the UK more opportunities to visit the world famous Christmas markets in Prague on city breaks.

He added:

“In addition to the three flights [a] week, we will be adding extra services for the two-week period over Christmas and new year to allow people from the East Midlands to enjoy the traditional Christmas festivities in Prague. For those looking to do something different for New Year’s Eve, the Czech capital has a host of events taking place that are sure to be very popular.”

This now brings the total of destinations being run by Bmibaby from East Midlands Airport to a grand total of 16 destinations. Other places ideal for city breaks from East Midlands Airport with bmibaby include Nice, Paris and Malaga.

Music fans should be flocking to take advantage of city breaks in Paris in the month of August as one of the country’s largest festivals will be held in Paris.

From the 28th to the 30th August, Saint Cloud park just outside of Paris will be home to Rock en Seine featuring some of the greatest names of modern music, including Oasis.

The British band Oasis will be one of the biggest attractions for the music festival and will be headlining the show on the 28th August. Other performances will include acts from Madness, Bloc Party and more.

On Saturday 29th August there will be shows from Faith No More and The Offspring to keep music fans entertained. To close the festival on Sunday 30th August there will be more entertainment from the likes of Klaxons, MGMT, Macy Gray and The Prodigy to close the Rock en Seine festival.

This isn’t the only time for music fans to take advantage of city breaks in Paris as the city’s wide range of indoor venues will also be hosting other live gigs in August and the next few months from the likes of the Zenith and the Bercy.

Cheap flights to Paris are great for city breaks and are available from most airports in the UK with airlines such as Air France, BA and easyJet.

When comparing holiday deals it is easy to get excited at the prospect of great holidays, booking the car and getting the tickets, but holidaymakers have been reminded how important it is to check the road law requirements for their holiday destination.

Figures from car insurance company Sheilas’ Wheels show that almost 3.5 million Brits intend to drive at holiday destinations in Europe this year such as Spain or Italy, and France was the most popular destination. City breaks to Paris and driving to the different provinces is popular with many Brits seeking holiday deals in France.

33 per cent of the group questioned said they believed the driving rules were the same in Europe as in the UK and a huge 85 per cent did not know the maximum speed in France is 130 km/h.

Jacky Brown, a spokeswoman for Sheilas’ Wheels, said: “It’s…vital that motorists do their research beforehand by making sure they understand the basic rules and regulations for driving on foreign roads.”

Tips offered by the company for those intending to drive whilst on holidays this year included taking identification and keeping it on their person all the time and to remember basic safety like seatbelts.

Since the onset of the current economic climate, it has been no secret that airlines have been struggling and so cheap holidays have been promoted as much as possible in an effort to win holidaymakers business.

However, thanks to a shock announcement from the International Air Transport Association (IATA) it seems that the figures could be worse than at first thought.

There are fewer business trips being taken and although holidaymakers in Britain are still taking holidays, they are more likely to be last minute holidays or cheap holidays booked well in advance. Many holidays are being taken closer to home in destinations such as Paris, the Costa Brava or the Costa del Sol where direct holidays can be taken rather than long haul places such as Thailand.

To help resolve the issues, the IATA has requested that the government remove the limitations currently imposed on some of the flight routes to allow collaboration between different airlines.

So, the good news from this for British holidaymakers is that flights and accommodation packages may well be cheaper than otherwise possible, so despite the credit crunch cheap holidays might well be worth a second look now.

Over the May bank holiday weekend the country saw a huge 1.8 million British people decide to take an overseas holiday, claims the travel association ABTA.

The favourite holiday destination for British people was Spain and this proved to be the most popular, with people taking holidays from the UK between 22nd and 25th May, which was the start of the half term break for schools in Britain.

During the May bank holiday period, the five favourite city break destinations that proved to be the most popular were; Amsterdam, Paris, Dublin, New York and Rome said ABTA.

The top of the list for long haul holidays over the May bank holiday was Florida, with Turkey and Egypt being the next popular destinations with visitors who travelled outside of the euro zone.

The president of ABTA, Justin Fleming said: “In spite of the recession, passenger numbers this bank holiday weekend are very healthy, showing that the British love affair with foreign travel is as strong as ever.”

ABTA also released statistics from research conducted earlier this year which highlighted that 68 percent of British people were still prepared to spend the same amount of money on their 2009 holidays than they were the previous year despite the economic downturn.

Those who are fans of the queen of pop, Madonna will be able to see her live in concert in Europe if they decide to combine a city break holiday with a visit to one of Madonna’s famous live shows during the summer this year.

Madonna is set to start her European tour with her first gig playing at London’s O2 Arena on 4th and 5th July, which will be followed by a live performance in the North West of England at Manchester’s MEN Arena on 7th July.

Madonna is then due to head over the English Channel to complete the rest of her European tour dates which will see her play live on the 9th July in Paris. Further concerts are scheduled; 14th July in Milan, 21st July in Barcelona and the 23rd July in Madrid with various other city break hot spots.

Madonna’s whole tour is to cover eastern European cities such as Prague, Tallinn, Warsaw, Budapest and finishes at the end of August.

Madonna is popular with fans all over the world as she is one of the most successful female recording artists in history with over 200 million albums sold worldwide.

The InterContinental Hotels Group have just managed to set a new unusual world record for the biggest bed-jump every seen involving 22,665 holiday makers and local people who bounced on huge beds for over 16 hours.

Each bed was 15 x 10 metres and especially built at four major cities across the globe; London, Shanghai, New York and Paris.

All the bed-jumping sessions were commenced by Olympic gymnasts James Higgins and Jaime Moore.

The Intercontinental Hotel Group decided to organise the bed-jumping world record for the launch of a their latest promotion where it is going to give away 5 million hotel rooms absolutely free to lucky holiday makers across 4,000 of the hotel group’s destinations in 100 countries worldwide.

Chief marketing officer of IHG Tom Seddon commented:

“We invited people to come and bounce on our massive beds to rediscover the fun of bed-jumping and put a smile on their faces. We felt it was the perfect way to celebrate the fact we’re giving away over 5m free nights available in over 4,000 hotels across 100 countries.”

Holiday Inn is currently being revamped by their holding company IHG and has a property which has just opened in the Chicago O’Hare area.

The airline American Airlines is to due to service a number of their international routes with a brand new updated Boeing 757 during 2009, following a major overhaul of its entire fleet.

The airline carrier is currently going through the process of completely remodelling around eighteen of its massive 124 Boeing 757 fleet, which sees each plane receive improved cabin interiors, upgraded flight entertainment systems, new seats and many other additional facilities that will benefit holiday makers and business travellers.

Those city break passengers who flew with American Airlines on all their flight services from New York City JFK to Brussels on 7th May were the first people to experience American Airline’s new onboard services.

The refurbished 757s are to be provided on all Latin American and transatlantic services and it has been forecast that they will also be used on flight routes taking holiday and business travellers from New York City to Paris, Miami and Salvador in Brazil.

Vice President for onboard services on American Airlines, Lauri Curtis said: “American Airlines’ fleet of Boeing 757 international aircraft will be well-suited to serve select international routes following the refurbishment initiative.”

American Airlines service holiday and business travellers taking flights from London, Madrid, Paris and Frankfurt to various major cities within the United States.

Paris is one of the airports selected to have a new one stop security system, which has been brought in to France’s airports by the IATA.

The new system is said to increase the convenience for travellers and holiday makers whilst maintaining more rigid security standards.

Those holiday makers and travellers that have already been screened by an airport in the EU are able to jump on to connecting flights in another European country without needing to go through any additional security checks.

The new security system was launched in Lyon and at a number of terminals at Paris Charles de Gaulle. It was anticipated that around £20 million will be saved by using the system, along with benefitting 6 million travellers and holiday makers.

Since the successful launch of the new scheme at Charles de Gaulle in Paris, the Director General of IATA, Giovanni Bisignani has been urging other European airports, including London to introduce the new one stop method.

Giovanni Bisignani said:

“The business case for one-stop security is clear: faster, hassle-free connections for passengers and lower security costs for everyone involved. There is no compromise on quality. I urge other states - particularly the UK and Ireland - to come on board quickly.”

Holiday makers who are planning to visit Paris and Northern parts of France this year should also consider heading for the new museum that has just opened up in Giverny, Normandy.

On 1st May, Normandy’s new cultural attraction, Musee des Impressionismes Giverny opened to attract city break visitors; it has been refurbished and opened on the original site of the Museum of American Art. There is currently an inaugural exhibition running until 15th August 2009.

Visitors to the museum are going to see 30 pieces by Claude Monet on display, which have been borrowed, courtesy of the famous Musee d’Orsay in Paris.

Normandy’s new museum is exclusively dedicated to Impressionism, an art movement strongly associated with the region of Normandy in France, owing to famous artists such as Monet and the famous historical sites of Rouen Cathedral.

Holiday makers who are visiting Paris are also being encouraged to see Normandy for another cultural experience that is truly French, which includes the Musee des Beaux Arts in Rouen and Musee Malraux in Le Havre.

Northern France, as a location for the historic sites of Normandy, makes it easy to take a day city break trip from Paris, which is in easy access through major airlines and Eurostar.