All this rain is driving us inside to our computers and the internet. And what are we spending our time looking at? Winter sun packages. It’s hardly surprising that bad weather in the UK, after a rather uninspiring summer, should have us all dreaming of a hot and sunny Christmas. But budgetary constraints are rather restrictive this year, but this shouldn’t mean your dreams say in wonderland, you can transport yourself to wonderland in reality if you know what to look for.

Firstly, wait until the last minute. Although this can be near impossible to do in practice, especially if you have a family to think about, let alone asking your boss for time off work in times of need, you are almost guaranteed to bag a bargain. This is because holiday companies get even more anxious than you; if they don’t sell their allocation they make a loss and nobody wants to lose money on an investment.

Secondly, think long and hard about when you want to travel. The first thing you’ll notice when looking at winter sun holidays is the peaks and troughs around certain dates. Prices sky rocket, rather unsurprisingly, over Christmas and New Year, but also throughout February to cover staggered half-term holidays and also over Easter, which is late in 2011 on the 22 to 25 April. Right after New Year in January and again at the beginning of March, prices plummet to very affordable levels.

Pick your location wisely. If you really want a winter sun break without splashing out on the Caribbean or Australia, then the best value for money with the highest temperatures is to be found in Egypt. You can also choose between culture in Cairo or beach bliss in Sharm-el-Sheikh; if you have longer to spare you could even consider combining both and have two holidays for the price of one.

To make your budget stretch as far as possible and to avoid constant spending whilst away, book an all-inclusive package. Although the initial expenditure will be higher as you are paying for all your meals and some drinks up front, you won’t have to spend a penny on location. Seeing as many all-inc packages now include alcoholic drinks, this is a great way to travel.

Thomas Cook offers great value Egypt holidays to suit a range of budgets and personal preferences.

Finding the most cost effective type of holiday is perhaps more important than ever for many of us, given the financial austerity required in these recession hit times.  The holiday market is large and complex, so there is a lot of choice to wade through on the way to finding the product that will suit you and your circumstances best.  However, this choice means plenty of competition in the marketplace, and this fact coupled with a slump in demand for foreign holidays this year means that there are genuine bargains to be found if you have a little time to shop around.

Large operators like Thomas Cook have ongoing relationships with airlines and hotels, and secure the best prices for their services – when putting together package and all inclusive holidays – by block booking well in advance.  This means that the tour operators have to predict demand long before actually selling the packages, and so in times of economic difficulty and falling demand the holiday market becomes a buyer’s market. Check out the Thomas Cook website for cheap holidays.

Last minute deals can be the source of genuine bargains, as the block booked charter flight seats and hotel rooms have already been paid for, and those unused will simply make no money at all if not passed on, even for a nominal price that does not cover base costs.
The internet is a powerful tool when it comes to finding these deals, with comparison websites able to take a lot of the leg work out of shopping around.  It is important to try and look at as many of these sites as you possibly can, as they do not all search in the same places.  Comparison sites can give you a good idea of a rough price level that you should expect for the kind of package or all inclusive holiday that you are after.  You should then take one of the deals that you have found and use this as the basis for haggling.  Try approaching high street travel agents, to see if they can better the online deal that you have found, and don’t be shy about playing different travel agents off each other – take advantage of the current buyer’s market, as it will not last forever.