The January blues are with us, and all over the country people are dreaming of getting away from it all. Be it a chic city break, fun on the slopes or soaking up the sun, booking a holiday is a tried and trusted method of beating the blues. That said, with the current downturn coming on top of the usual January money worries you might be forgiven for assuming that people are prioritising holidays less this year.

In fact, according to research by Aldi Travel the majority of us are still planning to go away because in the end, a good holiday is crucial for maintaining a sense of wellbeing. What is now most important to travellers is value for money, and that means spending more time shopping around for deals and getting in the know about what’s hot and what’s not for 2009.

On hand to answer all your holiday questions in our webchat is leading independent travel expert Simon Calder and Sarah Butler from recently launched Aldi Travel. Simon and Sarah have the inside track on 2009 travel trends and will be shedding light on must-visit destinations and most importantly, how to get the best deals and value for money. They will also provide hints and tips on what to do prior to and during your trip to make it a break you’ll remember at a price you will love.

H: Victoria Letch, host
S: Simon Calder, travel expert
SB: Sarah Butler, Aldi Travel

H: Hello and welcome to the very first show in this year’s Holiday 09 series, I’m Victoria Letch. Now then, with the festive season over, the cold weather settling in and most of us back at work, January is often the month to start thinking about taking a holiday. Unlike previous years, many of us have awoken with a financial hangover, despite living in tougher economic times, however, new research suggests that we are still going to be taking holidays and short breaks. Joining me today to talk through the mindfield of holiday destination choices, and with some handy hints and top tips on how to do things on a budget, is independent travel expert Simon Calder and Sarah Butler from Aldi Travel, welcome both of you

S: Thank you

H: Thank you very much. So Sarah, we’ll kick off with you. We all know at the moment it’s a bit doom and gloom

SB: Yes it is

H: We’re living in these tougher times, yet interestingly your research suggests that people actually are taking holidays?

SB: Yes, no it does. Our research has shown that 82% of British people feel that a holiday is important to their well-being. All you have to do is look outside – you see the gloom, the rain. You want to book your next holiday, it’s important to have something to look forward to

H: So very true. I actually went away at the end of last year and I must admit I came back totally refreshed

SB: Yes

H: Rejuvenated, and ready for action

SB: It gives you something to look forward to

H: Yes, we all need things to look forward to in life, that’s true. Simon, over to you – because of the state of things, financially, are we seeing quite a different trend in the way people are taking their holidays?

S: It’s an absolutely fascinating year. I’ve been in the travel business for – well far too long to remember, and I’ve never known a year like this. For a start, everybody’s obviously terribly worried about the effects of the economic climate, and the fact that the pound has slumped so much against the Euro and the Dollar, and yet at the same time, there’s people saying oh it’s all too terrible, I’m seeing more and more bargains coming onto the market, so it’s actually very exciting. If you are prepared to commit, if you are prepared to say actually yes I do need a holiday, the family does, and we’re going to seek out the best value that we possibly can, this is going to be the best of all possible years to go travelling

H: Ok, now we’re going to go back to the Euro versus pound debate in a moment, but first of all, in terms of habits and going on holidays, would you say people are leaning more towards shorter breaks or are people thinking I’m spending the money so I will actually go on an extended holiday to take advantage of being there?

S: I think people are going to be focused on what is going to give them the biggest return. For about the last ten years or so, since the start of low cost air travel, a lot of people, myself included, have been going off I guess on sort of frivolous breaks, maybe to somewhere in Eastern Europe that you can neither spell nor pronounce and you’re only going there because it’s cheap and so is the beer – I think we’ll be doing less of that and more focused on actually properly rewarding travel, and at the centre of that I would have to say is the, you know is the family holiday, you know whether it’s a week or two weeks – somewhere warm, in the summer, and that I think is where our focus is going to lie

H: Ok. Now Sarah, what are your thoughts on the Euro versus Pound, obviously we’re not getting a great return for the Pound at the moment

SB: Yes

H: So would you suggest people maybe visit places just outside Europe or –

SB: I think people are going to be looking more East I think – destinations such as Turkey and Egypt are going to become more and more important. But at the same time you’ve still got hoteliers in Spain that will need to sell the rooms, so I think the deals will still be there for the people that shop around

H: Ok great. Now I’m going to say two words to you, I don’t know who wants to jump in here – package holidays! Some people are quite fearful of package holidays. I’m not anti-them. When I think I want to go away and I just want some nice food and I just want some sunshine, is that sensible way to be looking to take your holidays this year?

S: Right, the market is more complicated than ever before, but that actually means that there’s plenty of value out there. Let’s start at one end of the spectrum if you like with the – traditional package holiday. They are still offering very good value for money, where you just go in with one transaction, you’re buying the flights, you’re buying the hotel, you’re buying the transfers and everything. Now, what you will notice, if you’ve been maybe going to the same resort with maybe the same company for – year after year after year, you may well find that actually the price has gone up quite significantly this year. That’s not necessarily because of the currency, because actually the tour operators are already locked into quite good rates of exchange

H: Right

S: What it is a reflection of is the fact that there’s fewer package holidays around this year. Probably about 2 million, maybe 10% of the available holidays have been taken out of the market, which means that there’s more – the same number of us chasing fewer holidays prices go up. At the other extreme, of course you’ve got the people who quite happily will- they’ve got a broadband internet connection and they’ll say I’m going to be my own travel agent, so I’ll have some flights, I’ll have some hotels, I’ll have some car rental – put everything together. That’s great, you are exposed to some risk there in case one component goes wrong then you’re going to have to sort it out yourself, and in the middle I think there’s quite an increasing number of providers who are coming up with the idea that we’ll sell you some flights, we’ll sell you some accommodation, you kind of package it up as you like, we’re not ATOL bonded but we will give you something called supplier failure cover, which means that effectively if one part of the, you know heaven forbid the airline goes bust or whatever then you will still be financially protected against any loss

H: Great. I’ve got to say that was very impressive because unbeknownst to you, you have been putting fires out all over the place. We’ve had questions coming in, so thank you very much, people have already sent questions in to us, so you’ve actually answered Jane’s question, she was asking if the DIY approach was the best way for her, David’s question, about package holidays being good value for money, and then Lucy, I don’t know if you want to touch on this one actually Sarah – Lucy says “friends of mine were caught up in the XL hoo-ha last year”- I quite like that she said “hoo-ha” – “are Aldi travel holidays protected against this?”

SB: Absolutely.

H: Right, great

SB: Aldi holidays, Aldi Travel holidays are ABTA bonded, and we also have a supplier failure coverage which Simon was just referring to included in the price of all of our deals, which means that every aspect of the holiday is insured up to a value of £5000

H: Brilliant

SB: So they are absolutely guaranteed, you can trust in Aldi travel

H: Great. Ooh – I like that! Little tag line there! Samantha, Samantha sent us a question in, thank you very much, she says “I’ve been dry skiing for years but I’ve never hit the snow. Where should I go and which would be ideal for a first-timer on a budget?”

S: I would have to say, you are going to do quite well pretty much anywhere in the Alps this winter. There’s been fantastic snowfall already, so obviously the French Alps, the Swiss Alps, the Austrian Alps are looking very good. If I was looking for the absolute lowest prices, I would be looking at Bulgaria and Rumania, but it has to be said that the facilities are – I think rudimentary would be a fair comment, compared with the much slicker facilities, so probably if you’re on a budget, maybe, maybe – well I think Austria is so welcoming and friendly. There’s great resorts there, so I would say yes, head out to Austria. But it’s very difficult to go wrong anywhere in the Alps this year

H: Ok. What if they were slightly adventurous so they’ve got the designer ski suits, they’re at one with the slopes – they’re a real adventurer and they want a bit of a challenge. Where would you suggest they go?

S: I would say go to France and enjoy the wide open spaces because my understanding is from people I talk to in resorts is the Russians who have been very, very dominant recently in a lot of French resorts simply aren’t going anymore because they’ve got their own economic problems, and actually there’s a bit of a vacuum which you probably can fill getting very high end facilities at a pretty reasonable cost – if indeed anything is reasonable these days with the pound so poorly against the Euro

H: Ok. Great, thank you. Theo, thank you for your question. Theo says “I’m looking to go somewhere a bit different this year. My friend told me Ethiopia is an incredible place to visit. I’m a little apprehensive. What do you think?” Who wants to jump in on that one?

SB: Simon?

S: I was lucky enough to go just over a year ago. Fascinating destination, first of all very, very safe

H: Yes

S: There’s not – as far as I could tell any crime at all. I was you know in crowds of people – by the end of my stay I was sort of walking around with my passport and money in my top pocket, no question that anybody would possibly remove it. So very friendly, very open, very honest. The – it’s quite hard work. The roads aren’t in particularly good nik, the hotels are – you know – not quite up to European standards, quite understandably, so it’s a place for hard core backpacking travel. If you do want to go there, it’s an incredibly beautiful and rewarding place to go to. If you haven’t been to that part of Africa before, I think probably Kenya is going to be a better introduction, because you’ve got the big city atmosphere in Nairobi, you’ve got the game parks at the Masai Mara, you’ve got the beaches on the Indian ocean, so it’s pretty complete. Ethiopia, great place to go, but you’ve got to be in the right mood

H: I tell you what, you’re really getting me in the mood. I think I might go and book a holiday after all of this! Time for Toby’s question now, Toby says “there isn’t an Aldi store near me, can I still book Aldi holidays?”

SB: That’s a really good question

H: Yes

SB: You can. If you visit the Aldi website, alditravel.co.uk, you’ll find all our holidays are available there. Really easy to book so it’s not necessary to have a store near you.

H: Brilliant, great. Ok. Let’s move straight on then. Charlotte’s – Charlotte’s question – “I’m hoping to surprise my man with a city break” – ooh this is foxy – “I was thinking of taking him to Krakow in Poland, but some people have said it’s the new stag venue for the English and the Scots. Where else do you suggest?”

S: Ok, yes, Krakow as I will pronounce it, if that’s ok with you –

H: Oh did I say it wrong?

S: No no no

H: Ok

S: Lots of people say Krakow, that’s how it’s spelt, and Polish people tend to say Krakoof

H: We’ll go with them, I think they know what they’re talking about

S: Anyway absolutely beautiful city, southern Poland, very, very historic. The place where Pope John Paul was originally based, a lovely place to go. Yes it does get a bit crowded, Friday and Saturday night people off on stag parties, so I think if Charlotte wants to impress her man, then probably maybe go a bit further north to Vilnius in Lithuania, doesn’t quite attract the same stag night crew, and also it’s the European capital of culture this year, so there’ll be loads going on

H: Oh wow great

S: Good value being East of Germany, as anywhere is in that part of the world. Lots of flights going out there, and I think good fun when you get there

H: So could be a bit of a party atmosphere –

S: Yes, in the nicest possible sense, yes

H: Yes, yes. So we’ve got a question that’s come in from Mary. Now Mary says “does the low price also mean low quality?”

SB: Absolutely not. I think it’s important that Mary shops around, and makes sure that she’s getting the right deal. Check out all the small print. What is the holiday that she’s being and make sure that she’s buying from a credible and reputable brand

S: Yes, generally if you’re booking from a company that you recognise, then they will provide a decent quality, and if you’re unhappy with any aspect of it, you now of course you have full redress. But we’re not living in the 1970s when you know you’d turn up and there was a half-built hotel. Holiday standards are generally very good. Obviously there’s absolutely robust health and safety rules, quite rightly

H: Yes

S: And you know accommodation is checked out routinely by the holiday providers, so I don’t think it’s a concern. Main thing is, getting the holiday that’s right for you at the price that’s right for you

H: So very comforting to know it’s pretty difficult to get it wrong these days

S: Well I’m not saying – but generally we’re very lucky to be in a time when standards are generally good

H: Great. So we’ll go onto Grant – “is this just an online service or will you have travel agents in your stores?”

SB: There won’t be any travel agents in the stores because we’re keeping all the costs down

H: Great, yes

SB: All the marketing however is done through our stores, and we have a fortnightly leaflet which is showcasing our 6 exclusive deals which you can only get from Aldi

H: Yes

SB: But in addition to that we’ve also got the website, which I mentioned

H: Yes of course, and I will direct everyone to that at the end of the show. I also want to point out that I think there’s sort of this fear factor if people haven’t booked a holiday online before, they can be quite nervous of it, but I have recently done it myself and it was so swift and so easy, and everything’s so sort of compact and there for you, so you know exactly what’s going on at all times. So do give it a go in case you are slightly fearful of it. We did have a question coming through earlier on about going to holiday in Thailand and was it a safe place to go. I mean I’ve recently got back from Thailand – I had a wonderful time, and I want to live there, and buy a boat. I realise that’s quite unrealistic, but I have to say I felt completely safe at all times. Is that naive of me?

S: No, generally tourists haven’t had any problems at all in the recent political strife that there has been in Thailand. You obviously didn’t get caught up in the closure of Bangkok airport, that took place in December last year. What has happened is that – well there’s been, for as long as I can remember, political upheavals in Thailand. They’ve never affected tourists adversely, and in fact without wishing to sound at all mercenary, it’s a great time to be going to Thailand, because in order to win back confidence from travellers and travel companies, they’ve had to come in with some great deals, so plenty of value to be found on the islands of Thailand. Worth also saying that Kenya, which this time a year ago was having political problems, some great value there. And also India. So if you want to go long haul those are definitely places worth considering.

H: Great. Thank you very much. Now Matthew, good question for you because obviously we are moving into wedding season – well it’s always wedding season, I don’t know why people say that, people get married all the time don’t they? He says “I’ve got my honeymoon coming up soon, I don’t want to fly somewhere expensive only to sit by a hotel swimming pool. What would offer culture and quality and be a little unique at the same time?”

S: Ooh ok. I personally think it all slightly depends on when people are going but somewhere like Southern Spain is a great destination because you can combine some lovely beaches, and they don’t have to all be very high rise and touristy, along with great cities. Malaga is itself an absolutely beautiful place. The Pablo Picasso museum is one of the finest in Spain, and of course inland from there you’ve got Seville, a lovely, lovely city, Granada up in the mountains and the Moorish remains of Cordoba. Plus beautiful little towns like Ronda. So I’d say Southern Spain would give you the essential, romantic holiday to remember

H: Lovely. Tell you what, if you can’t afford a holiday, just sit in a room with you and let you talk – I feel like I’ve been on holiday today

S: That’s very nice of you

H: Ok, well we’ve run out of time. I’m just going to squeeze in one cheeky little nosy question. Where are you going on your holidays this year?

SB: I’m looking forward to a nice week skiing over in France

H: Oh how nice, lovely. Well enjoy yourself

SB: Thank you

H: Work those thighs. How about you Simon?

S: Oh I spend my entire life on holiday pretending to work, but I’m going to try and check out some interesting little bits of the Mediterranean I’ve not been to before. Places like Italy and Greece. That sounds just about right

H: Fantastic, well both enjoy yourselves

SB: Thank you

H: Thank you very much for your time today. And that it is I’m afraid, but of course if you’re anything like me and you’re getting your diary organised for the year ahead, do make sure you check out alditravel.co.uk and book yourself a break. They’re pretty essential. I’ll see you next time