Real 'value' resorts

Research by flight comparison site Skyscanner has revealed that certain consumers are getting it wrong when deciphering 'cheap' holiday destinations.

When Skyscanner.net asked over 1,500 UK consumers to score 30 popular holiday destinations on whether they believed them to be expensive or cheap, Sweden, Norway, Switzerland and Denmark topped the list.

However, research into the actual cost of holidaying in each country revealed that, while Switzerland and Denmark were indeed in the top five (taking second and third spots), the priciest hotspot was actually France.

Surprisingly, the Scandinavian countries of Sweden and Norway were far lower down when ranked by actual cost, taking places 13 and 18 respectively.

When it came to consumer attitudes at the other end of the scale, the respondents were far closer to the mark. India, Thailand and Morocco were perceived to be the cheapest places to visit and this rang true in the research with all three featuring in the top ten budget countries.

According to the price information researched, the most budget-friendly countries currently are eurozones Cyprus and Greece, followed by South Africa, Dominican Republic and Morocco.

As expected, long haul destinations see more notable hikes in ranking when flights are added, with South Africa rising from its place at third from the bottom of the list to 14th most expensive destination. Once flights to New Zealand are added, the antipodean destination rose from its ranking within the bottom ten of the list to sit in the top ten most expensive countries.

Equally, some of the shorter haul destinations such as Spain and Sweden see significant drops in their position in the total cost ranking once cheap flights have been added, moving from 8th to 15th, and 13th to 21st most expensive respectively.