Soak up the sun - for a fiver

By Sean Poulter, Daily Mail

A £5 note

Give me five: Thomson Holidays is offering the breaks for £5 a night

In the depths of recessionary gloom, a holiday in the sun will have slipped down the list of priorities for many families.

But one travel company is going to great lengths to bring it back within reach - by selling a night in a four-star apartment for just £5.

Thomson Holidays is offering the cheap rate on self-catering apartments and studios in a number of popular destinations in Corfu, Turkey and the Canary Islands.

It is also advertising a number of £6-a-night deals in Crete, £8 a night in both Minorca and Majorca, and £12 a night for B&B in Goa in India. The cost of flights and transfers are extra.

The deals appear to be part of an aggressive attempt by the industry to overcome the impact of the credit crunch on bookings.

Thomson offered a handful of rooms for £2-a-night last October. At the time, the firm insisted it was a 'one-off' and had nothing to do with the credit crunch.

However, the new round of cuts suggests the deals are part of a wider strategy.

The Oasis Papagayo resort in Fuerteventura

Cut price: The £5-a-night deals apply to resorts including the Oasis Papagayo in Fuerteventura

They come against the background of warnings from the industry that a fall in bookings threatens to trigger the collapse of a number of small tour operators.

Last week, Spanish tourist authorities said the number of Britons booking this year has fallen by as many as one million.

The fall in the value of the pound against the euro has killed bookings to the country and other states in the euro zone. Holidays to the USA are also being discounted.

Thomson UK managing director Dermot Blastland has warned that the collapse of smaller firms could hit the holiday plans of one million travellers this year, leaving 100,000 stranded overseas.

He claims the collapses this year will dwarf the failure of XL last summer, which left 85,000 overseas and some 200,000 people chasing refunds.

 

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Mr Blastland said in the industry trade journal Travel Weekly: 'There is no doubt more travel companies will cease trading in the toughest market for many years.

'In my view up to one million people will be affected by their travel provider going bust. Most will probably get their money back, but many more won't. Also, up to 100,000 could be stranded overseas in 2009.

'This is scary stuff and isn't the way to create a feeling of security around our industry.'

The £5-a-night deals apply to family apartments in three resorts: the Oasis Papagayo in Fuerteventura, the Babadan apartments in Dalaman, Turkey, and the Dora Studios and Apartments in Corfu.

The nights included in the deal run from Wednesday, April 29, to Tuesday, May 5. The holiday industry rescue fund, ATOL, which is run by the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA), is supposed to step in when a firm goes bust, providing refunds and bringing people home.

However, the scheme is thought to be £50million in the red. It only covers some holidays - those booked as part of a package - and not the thousands put together by people themselves by booking directly with an airline.

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