Package prices rose by 1% last year

Package holiday prices rose by less than 1% last summer. The Civil Aviation Authority says the average price for packages between April and September last year went up by £4. The summer 2001 average price was £441, while the figure for the 12 months to September was £447 - a 1.7% rise on the year. Overall, 29.2 million packages involving air travel were bought from licensed UK travel companies in the 12 months to September 2001, which is a 6.3% increase on the previous year. Over the summer of 2001, there were 18.8 million holidays sold. This is 5% more than the summer before. The number of licensed holidays for the winter 2001/02 season shows an increase of 6.5% over the same period the year before. The CAA says the US terror attacks didn't affect the 2001 figures. This was because most tour operators had fully sold their programmes to the end of September before the terrorist attacks were carried out. However, the attacks are likely to take their toll on this summer's bookings. The leading holiday companies have already announced they will be offering fewer packages this year.