According to recent research, around 56 million holidays will still be taken this summer by British holidaymakers despite the recession.

The research comes from Sainsbury’s Travel Insurance as their survey showed the economic downturn is actually encouraging people to have holidays or city breaks in order to escape their troubles.

Around 670,000 people intend to travel more than usual this year to avoid depression from the credit crunch.

The survey also showed that Brits spend around £780 per person on each holiday on average, which totals around £43 billion on holidays this summer alone.

Over a third of the survey respondents said they would travel within the eurozone although the pound is still weak against the euro and more than 60 per cent said they would have at least one short break in the UK this year.

Sam Marrs, manager of Sainsbury’s Travel Insurance, said:

“Despite tough economic conditions, it would appear that rather than sacrificing our holidays, we Britons may even be taking more breaks in a bid to put all the credit crunch doom and gloom behind us.”

In a recent statement from Which? Holiday magazine, travellers were advised to look for affordable breaks outside the eurozone including places such as Turkey or Egypt.

The number of British holidaymakers willing to travel alone in order to discover new places on their holidays has increased and continues to do so according to a new study released by Mintel, the research company.

According to Mintel, the number of solo travellers from Britain over the last five years has increased by approximately five per cent and this year is estimated to increase to five million travellers.

Figures showed over one in eight long haul holidays are now taken solo and around 33 per cent of those under 65 years old living alone have travelled solo.

For those taking holidays alone, popular holiday destinations include Switzerland, Austria, Africa and the US including New York and Las Vegas, amongst others.

Tom Rees, senior travel analyst at the research company, said:

“Although the majority of holidays are still taken within the traditional family or couple units, as the frequency and variety of holidays have grown in recent years, people have increasingly had the means, desire and opportunity to go on holidays catering to their individual tastes. Consequently, there has been a rise in the number of Brits travelling alone and with friends or groups outside of the traditional family and couples units.”

The Post Office has this week urged British holidaymakers to increase their knowledge of currencies and values in order to save themselves a lot of money, money which could be used to have better holiday deals.

Figures released by the Post Office suggest that almost 40 percent of British adults are unable to convert even popular currencies such as the US dollar and the Euro and are overspending due to this.

The study showed 27 per cent regularly overspend when they travel on holidays and 44 per cent do not calculate the trust cost of items when on holiday.

Sarah Munro, head of travel for the Post Office, said:

“At a time where budgets are being stretched, it’s more important than ever to keep a [rein] on holiday spending. To make the most of your pound make sure you do your research before you go. Check out the exchange rate and do some research to find out how much…basic staples like drinks and suncream will cost when you get there.”

Recommendations include using your mobile phone calculator to work out the true cost of items and avoiding using cards as these have uncompetitive exchange rates. Holiday deals can be much cheaper if overspending on travel money can be avoided.

Tourist boards are using new and unique ways to increase tourism for their destinations and use their marketing budget wisely.

According to a recent Forbes report, creativity is rife when it comes to attracting tourists to city breaks and holidays in destinations such as Las Vegas, Queensland, the Cayman Islands and more.

One rather extravagant campaign went so far as using a film, Cayman Went as a promotion to encourage holidays to the Cayman Islands.

Those responsible for marketing Las Vegas for city breaks re-launched their What Happens in Vegas, Stays in Vegas campaign to further promote their entertainment centres.

Others are focusing upon the benefits of travelling as a way to escape day to day life such as one tourism promotion for Michigan inviting holidaymakers to “come back to what’s real and true”.

One campaign that really hit the headlines and even had a television show broadcast about its creativity is the “best job in the world” offered by the tourism campaign for Queensland in Australia, which included an extravagant salary and a six month contract to manage Hamilton Island with expenses paid for. The campaign even won a prize at the Cannes Lions International Advertising Festival.

Tourist agencies all over the world want tourists to visit their destination and are offering some cheap holidays and amazing city breaks for those seeking holidays over the next few months.

Earlier this month, it seems we gained one step nearer to the reality of solar-powered holiday deals as the new solar aircraft, the HB-SIA Solar Impulse was revealed in Zurich.

The renowned balloonist and psychiatrist, Bertrand Piccard, shows the latest invention, a prototype he hopes will change holidays by harnessing sufficient solar energy to fly during the night.

The prototype is to be trialled over three years and is expected to make a crossing over the Atlantic in 2012 and later across the globe.

This new solar powered aircraft is 61 metres in length and weighs just 1,500 kg.

The night time Atlantic flight will be dangerous but if successful these new solar technologies could be used to advance holidays into solar-power for the future and change the way we all experience holiday travel.

Mr Piccard told BBC News: “I love this type of vision where you set the goal and then you try to find a way to reach it, because this is challenging.”

It may only be a few short years before city breaks and last minute holidays are taken using solar powered airplanes, saving CO2 and the environment and making holidays more popular with everyone.

Cheap holidays in Europe should be cheaper still from now on as mobile phone users will find that it is now much cheaper to use their mobiles in Europe as new regulations were passed earlier this month to abolish the roaming charges on making calls. This was campaigned for some time as the charges were seen as unfair to mobile phone users on holidays or business trips.

EU telecommunications commissioner Viviane Reding said:

“The roaming rip-off is now coming to an end. Expect the new roaming rules to make it much cheaper to surf the web on your mobile while abroad in the EU.”

It is hoped that the savings from these new roaming rules should be passed onto those customers using data too and the European Commission will be monitoring the competitiveness of the market over the coming year.

According to a report from the Times Online, there will be a single tariff for all the 27 member EU states and rather than rounding up the cost of a call to the nearest whole minute, instead it will be rounding to the nearest 30th second of a call.

This should make calls when on holiday even cheaper.

Despite the current economic climate, it seems when it comes to holidays, exotic destinations are still thriving with visitors such as Turkey, Egypt, Tunisia and Thailand.

Trips to such destinations still make cheap holidays and offer a sense of adventure that can only be attained by travelling so far from home. Many holidaymakers however remain unaware of the need to have the right vaccinations and ideally some time before travel, so as last minute holidays hold such attractive prices it is advised that people should protect themselves earlier rather than later.

According to an article in the Daily Mirror by Dr Miriam Stoppard, an alarming one quarter of visitors to Africa, the Middle East and Asia have not had any vaccinations. Her advice was to plan trips outside of Europe a little earlier to ensure vaccinations can be given.

Travellers can check with their pharmacist or GP to find out which destinations need which vaccinations, and even boosters.

If exotic holidays appeal to you and you want to take advantage of the cheap holidays available, then it is important to get all the advice for such places before looking round and then the world can be your oyster.

According to a recent survey from Skyscanner, the British holidaymaker puts the price of a holiday as a higher priority than the destination.

28 percent of respondents stated that they looked for cheap holidays and bargains and if the price was right, they did not mind the holiday destination. Only a mere 16 percent had a fixed idea of when and where they wanted to go for their holidays.

The results of the survey showed 23 percent of holidaymakers were unsure of their holiday destination or dates for travel and claimed they were flexible on both the location and date. 17 percent said they knew the location but would set the date dependent upon the price. Another 15 percent of respondents said they knew the dates but not the destination.

A spokesperson for skyscanner said:

“The recession has turned us into a nation of bargain hunters and adventurers. Rather than setting our hearts on a single destination and fixed dates, more of us are now happy to take our holidays when and where we can find the best value. Brits have become more flexible and open to new destinations – as long as the price is right.”

It seems that ‘cheap holidays’ at the moment outranks almost anything else.

Those looking for cheap holidays or discount holiday deals should be careful they don’t overspend when it comes to using their debit and credit cards abroad, according to the Daily Mail earlier this month.

When holidaymakers decide to use their debit or credit cards abroad, they should check beforehand what charges they may be liable for.

Those taking holidays in America to places like New York and Florida should check the exchange rate differences in using their card versus taking travellers cheques if they want to make the most of the dollar versus sterling exchange rate. In the current economic climate, most holidaymakers are watching every penny to avoid spending unnecessarily and the only way to be certain of the exchange rate you are receiving when spending abroad is to exchange your foreign currency before you go as the exchange rates can fluctuate all the time.

The newspaper does highlight however, that thanks to the Banking Code, any unauthorised transactions or unauthorised spending will be covered by a bank’s guarantee if you lose your card.

Of course, if you take travellers cheques, this is in many ways better than cash, as they are useless without a signature and therefore the theft of TCs is not the end of the world. Holidays abroad are to be enjoyed, not spent worrying about exchange rates.

British people are willing to ‘cut back’ on life’s little luxuries to make sure that they can afford to take at least one holiday this year according to recent research by low cost airline easyJet.

The air carrier conducted a survey, showing that 68 per cent of respondents had no intention at all of giving up their holidays and 40 per cent had already made a booking for this year.

When it came to giving up luxuries, 88 per cent said they would give up their morning coffee takeaway if it meant guaranteeing their holidays; 63 per cent would reduce their clothing allowance and 72 per cent would cut back on going on nights out.

Paul Simmons, easyJet’s general manager in the UK said:

“People are definitely assessing their spending habits and looking at ways to make their pennies go further in 2009. The survey demonstrates that people are cutting back on everyday ‘luxuries’ to ensure they can still fund their annual summer holiday.”

Earlier this year, easyJet added an extra plane running from Manchester Airport with flights to Corfu and Athens amongst others and another plane from Liverpool Airport running flights to Naples and Bordeaux.

Last minute and cheap holidays are proving popular with Brits so far this year.