If you’ve been scrimping and saving for a holiday over the last few months, you’ll want to maximise how far that money goes when it comes to booking and organising your trip. Maybe you are planning to go backpacking with friends, take a cruise or citybreak with family.
When you consider that the average cost of a two-week holiday for a family of four is £4792, it’s no wonder holidaymakers are increasingly looking at ways to save on their travel.
Taking a break is good for your health, so fortunately, we’ve put together a list of 5 handy tips to help you get the most out of your hard-earned money for your next holiday.
1. Opt for DIY Instead of a Package Holiday
Unless you’re wanting to head to a popular holiday destination for precisely a week, there are some significant savings to be made by organising your holiday yourself as opposed to booking it through a travel operator.
By doing so, you can take advantage of sales on particular flights, get access to last-minute deals on hotel accommodation, and gain the ability to stay in non-conventional lodging options.
Expedia reports that on average DIY travellers search 48 times on eight different websites before booking a flight. Therefore, whilst it’s true that planning a DIY holiday can be a test of your stress management skills, you are still likely to reap the benefits of your perseverance.
2. Be Flexible on Dates AND Location
It’s long been sage travel advice to be as flexible as possible with your dates when booking a holiday, but rarely is the significance of the location mentioned.
If you can be flexible with your location, you are likely to save much more than you would’ve saved with just the leeway of a few different weeks of departure.
Airlines offer steep discounts to locations that represent new routes for them, or destinations where they regularly fly under capacity. By following the flight deals to their cheapest destinations, you can score huge savings and get your holiday off to the best start.
Use flight aggregators such as Momondo or Google Flights to track prices and set up alerts for when rock-bottom prices become available.
3. Use The Sharing Economy to Your Advantage
The sharing economy is continuing to disrupt the travel industry by providing multiple options when it comes to accommodation, dining and cultural experiences.
By taking advantage of apps such as Airbnb, you can stay at five star-standard accommodations, for a fraction of the price. This woman saved $10,000 alone by staying in Airbnbs throughout her trip to Japan.
What’s more you can leverage online groups to team up with other travellers to reduce your per person costs on Airbnb locations even further!
If you are really tight on cash, you can even try and stay with a local for free, using websites such as Couchsurfing.
But the sharing economy doesn’t start and end with accommodation.
Food site Eatwith, allows diners to join a local for supper for a fraction of restaurant prices, and ride-sharing service BlaBlaCar helps travellers safely hitch a ride with drivers heading to the same location in 22 different countries.
4. Work Whilst You’re Away
This may seem alien to individuals who go on holiday to relax and do as little as possible, but there are some incredible opportunities available for those willing to sacrifice a few hours each day of their holiday.
Perhaps the most famous operator in this area is Worldwide Opportunities on Organic Farms (WWOOF). This service pairs organic farmers with travellers, who in return for a few hours of work per day, receive free food and free accommodation.
This makes extremely expensive destinations on the other side of the world, such as Australia and New Zealand, suddenly much more affordable.
It’s also a great way to ingratiate yourself with the true culture of a country and gives you the opportunity to hone your foreign language skills if you wish.
5. Research Free Activities
The average spend of a British holidaymaker whilst abroad is £227 per week.
On top of the savings you’ve made on flights and accommodation, you may also be able to cut back on spending whilst abroad by carrying out research on free activities in the local area.
Make a list of local sites of historical and cultural significance to visit, look at museums and attractions with free admission, and plan free activities such as hiking and swimming in the sea.
Although not free of charge, you can also significantly save on your holiday spending budget by preparing your own food using ingredients from a local supermarket, rather than eating out every night.
Conclusion
So there you have it. 5 actionable tips to make your money go as far as possible for your next holiday.
If you’re thinking of heading to a more far-flung part of the world, to stay healthy it is worth double-checking which vaccinations you need before departure in order to prevent you from developing serious sickness symptoms whilst you’re away.
Use the travel vaccines checker to find out if you require vaccines such as yellow fever or anti-malarial medication for your trip. In a matter of seconds you can book an appointment at a nearby clinic.
Once you have booked your trip, what do you do next? Find out how to survive your fight!
DocHQ Ltd is a Health Tech company improving choices. We help you connect efficiently to health support and advice whether you are at home, work or travelling. See our website for our services or call us on 0330 088 0645.
