How much!!! (Literally)
Discussion
Rounds at my mothers, she had got some old postcards and photos out, a few of the postcards were from my late father to her from Mallorca, mid sixties, (before they were blessed with me) and he was away with his mates. She also mentioned she thought he and his little gang went to Tenerife around the same time: which got me thinking this couldn’t have been a cheap undertaking for a group of working class lads, especially Tenerife which even as I remember in the 70s, the Canary Islands were some far away exotic location.
So the point of my meandering is, does anyone know the cost of these jaunts in the mid sixties, particularly Tenerife? Would the latter have been a package trip or would they have made their own way via someone like BOAC? BTW my mother pointed out she had to be satisfied going to Jersey with her pal
So the point of my meandering is, does anyone know the cost of these jaunts in the mid sixties, particularly Tenerife? Would the latter have been a package trip or would they have made their own way via someone like BOAC? BTW my mother pointed out she had to be satisfied going to Jersey with her pal
I expect the actual cost of the package holiday has fallen, however worth sticking some figures into an inflation calculator to check.
https://www.ageuk.org.uk/northtyneside/about-us/ne...
From the above: "More people were getting on a plane and flying off to the sun in the early 1970s. Spain was the top tourist destination for British holidaymakers in 1972. A package holiday to Spain cost from £40 to £150 in 1972."
£100 in 1972 around £1600 today, I'm guessing you'll get more now in terms of experience and facilities, but costs will 'feel' about the same to the wallet.
Edited by dundarach on Friday 21st February 09:01
Interesting stuff Dundarach, the Pearl& Dean music popped in to my head when I saw them They seem to be early 70s, it was definitely mid sixties ‘m on about though. I’m vaguely aware that Brits hitting the Costas was becoming more widespread, it was more Tenerife that piqued my interest.
They seem to be early 70s, it was definitely mid sixties ‘m on about though. I’m vaguely aware that Brits hitting the Costas was becoming more widespread, it was more Tenerife that piqued my interest.dundarach said:
£100 in 1972 around £1600 today, I'm guessing you'll get more now in terms of experience and facilities, but costs will 'feel' about the same to the wallet.
My last holiday to Tenerife including a studio flat on a beach resort was about £800 total (for 2). In November we did a week in Lanzarote in a 3 bed villa with pool, for less then a grand.My Dad was an Engineer yet a typical holiday for us in the 70's would be a week in a chalet in Hastings. Only one of my mates had an actual foreign holiday.
£1600 goes way further these days. You can fly all over Europe for the cost of a train ticket to London.
My parents were real adventurers and loved road trips.
My first was as a 3 year old in the mid 60s in the back of a Ford Anglia with my older sister and brother when we went on a ferry to Calais and drove to Lisbon and back. I don't remember too much about it but it must have been an epic journey without the benefit of duel carriageways or motorways we have today. Later journeys I do remember took us all over Europe including the Munich Olympics in 1972.
It obviously rubbed of on me as I love road trips too. We're doing 4 this year including 2 in Europe.
My first was as a 3 year old in the mid 60s in the back of a Ford Anglia with my older sister and brother when we went on a ferry to Calais and drove to Lisbon and back. I don't remember too much about it but it must have been an epic journey without the benefit of duel carriageways or motorways we have today. Later journeys I do remember took us all over Europe including the Munich Olympics in 1972.
It obviously rubbed of on me as I love road trips too. We're doing 4 this year including 2 in Europe.
Perhaps another comparision is to remember wages in the 1960's.
My first job in the summer of 1967 was as a junior sales assistant at Beatties in Wolverhampton, first weeks wage was, I think, £5/8/6d, so a jolly to Spain at 29guineas would have been well beyond my means!
Most of my holidays at that time would have been Youth Hostels by bike!
My first job in the summer of 1967 was as a junior sales assistant at Beatties in Wolverhampton, first weeks wage was, I think, £5/8/6d, so a jolly to Spain at 29guineas would have been well beyond my means!
Most of my holidays at that time would have been Youth Hostels by bike!
ferret50 said:
Perhaps another comparision is to remember wages in the 1960's.
My first job in the summer of 1967 was as a junior sales assistant at Beatties in Wolverhampton, first weeks wage was, I think, £5/8/6d, so a jolly to Spain at 29guineas would have been well beyond my means!
Most of my holidays at that time would have been Youth Hostels by bike!
My first proper job after I left school in 1959 was at a well known insurance company. My annual salary was £240. Got an increase in 1960 to £280.My first job in the summer of 1967 was as a junior sales assistant at Beatties in Wolverhampton, first weeks wage was, I think, £5/8/6d, so a jolly to Spain at 29guineas would have been well beyond my means!
Most of my holidays at that time would have been Youth Hostels by bike!
I wasn't around in those days, but my understanding is that Spain was a pretty poor country after the demise of Franco, so everything there was cheap?
Tourism was a successful initiative to boost their economy, which has worked incredibly well.
Ergo a package holiday entrepreneur could bundle together a cheap hotel and a charter flight and you were away.
Tourism was a successful initiative to boost their economy, which has worked incredibly well.
Ergo a package holiday entrepreneur could bundle together a cheap hotel and a charter flight and you were away.
1988 and immediately after our last O-Level exam, we walked into a travel agent to book a boys holiday. Our criteria was sun, sand, sea, sex, cheap, sex, cheap, sex, cheap, cheap and cheap. And did we mention cheap?! 
The travel agent pulled it off. Return flights from Gatwick to Corfu for 7 nights in an apartment including transfers for £62 each, if we left tomorrow. Booked!
The travel agent pulled it off. Return flights from Gatwick to Corfu for 7 nights in an apartment including transfers for £62 each, if we left tomorrow. Booked!
My wife, 3 years older than me, pretty much only went on EU holidays as a kid.
Whereas we went to a friend of a friend's cottage in Mousehole most years but did manage Ireland in 1991 when I was 13 and a Gite in Brittany the following year.
The in-laws cheated somewhat - Mrs T complains that she never went on holiday without her maternal grandparents, because they were footing the bill - but I still wonder if going somewhere like Spain was just something that never occurred to my folks. It may have been inverse snobbery - they're retired teachers - but I also wonder if they had a perception that they couldn't afford a foreign holiday.
Yet a retired Longbridge worker and his wife were taking themselves, their daughter, their son-in-law, and the two grandkids on a package holiday every year somehow.
Whereas we went to a friend of a friend's cottage in Mousehole most years but did manage Ireland in 1991 when I was 13 and a Gite in Brittany the following year.
The in-laws cheated somewhat - Mrs T complains that she never went on holiday without her maternal grandparents, because they were footing the bill - but I still wonder if going somewhere like Spain was just something that never occurred to my folks. It may have been inverse snobbery - they're retired teachers - but I also wonder if they had a perception that they couldn't afford a foreign holiday.
Yet a retired Longbridge worker and his wife were taking themselves, their daughter, their son-in-law, and the two grandkids on a package holiday every year somehow.
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