$4 of this is considered an administration fee, whilst the remaining amount is to provide a fund to promote US tourism.

The ‘ESTA’ use has been in place since January 2009, but this is the first time the US has charged to use the compulsory system. Britain are one of 35 nations which are part of the Visa Waiver program which requires visitors to complete the ESTA.

The ESTA is currently free until the 8th of September and lasts for 2 years, so anyone traveling to popular US destinations including New York, Las Vegas and LA or on holidays to Florida should get it before this date before you have to pay!

Research carried out by Post Office Travel Money using their ‘beach barometer’ to monitor prices across popular European resorts for such things as eating out, water park entrance fees or a simple bucket and spade, show holidays in the Algarve as this years cheapest destination, less than half than the price of the most expensive destination, Sorrento in Italy.

Report highlights include:

• Portugal’s Algarve is this year’s cheapest destination, less than half the price of highest-priced Sorrento in Italy
• Five basic kids’ beach items could add as much as £32 to family costs per child – and parents could pay almost twice as much for the same items in France as in Malta
• Family days out vary enormously in price – water park entry costs twice as much in Cyprus as in Italy
• Family meals have been slashed in Portugal but have risen steeply in Turkey and France and cost three times as much in Italy.

Download the full Family holiday report 2010 from POST OFFICE® TRAVEL SERVICES

Sit back and enjoy, knowing there are better ways to travel………..

This new service is addition to Monarch’s current flights to Majorca from London Luton, Birmingham and Manchester airports.

The new flights will start on the 17th July  with fares starting at just £42 one way and £68 return including taxes.

Commenting on the March traffic figures, managing director of Monarch Flights and Holidays, Tim Jeans said,

“We are delighted to have recorded a load factor of 87% during March 10, which demonstrates the loyalty of our customer base who chose to fly with us time and time again.

“We continue to see strong demand for our mid-haul flights to the Canary Islands and Cyprus, once again proving they are a firm favourite with customers. The onboard service offered on Monarch’s scheduled flights, which includes extra legroom seating, a great range of tasty hot and cold food, and selected inflight entertainment is over and above the levels provided by most low fares airlines, and is perfectly suited for longer flight sectors such as the Canary Islands and Cyprus.”

The new service will operate on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays.

Researchers from Tesco bank looked at typical holiday expenses for a 7 night family holiday in August that included accommodation, car hire, meals and entertainment (but excluded the cost of getting to the holiday resort), and the findings made a cheap holiday to Turkey a better deal than a week in the UK.

The total holiday spending costs:

Reykjavik, Iceland – £3383
Rome, Italy – £2836
Barcelona, Spain – £2375
Dubrovnik, Croatia – £2333
Nice, France – £2320
Faro, Portugal – £2262
Athens, Greece – £2054
Brighton, UK – £2209
Bodrum, Turkey – £1819
Ljubljana, Solvenia – £1750
Limassol, Cyprus – £1739
Budapest, Hungary – £1455
Warsaw, Poland – £1315
Sofia, Bulgaria – £1221

So instead of mixed weather and fish and chips, you could be enjoying the sun and sand of a cheap package holiday to Cyprus or Bulgaria.