Some French are as fanatical for fry-ups as the British, according to a hotel food survey.

As many as 19 per cent of French said the English breakfast was the best first meal of the day in hotels, the poll by Hotels.com found.

And overall the traditional English breakfast came out as the top type of breakfast in the survey of 2,400 travellers from more than 20 countries, including the UK.

As many as 55 per cent of the Britons polled opted for an English breakfast when staying abroad, with 26 per cent taking traditional breakfast foods away with them.

More than a third (34 per cent) of British travellers admitted taking teabags on holiday, while eight per cent have taken bacon and one per cent have taken brown sauce or tomato ketchup.

When it comes to buffets, 10 per cent of Britons admitted stashing food away to eat later.

Nearly half (47 per cent) the Germans polled said they revisited the buffet for a refill. The poll also showed that the Germans were the ones having the longest lie-ins, with 31 per cent admitting to regularly missing breakfast, compared with 25 per cent of Britons.

Meanwhile another survey showed that holidaymakers are holding back on their spending while abroad.

A total of 17 per cent plan to spend less than last year, while 42 per cent will fork out about the same, the poll by M&S Money found.

Those intending to spend less will be cutting their spending by an average of £326.

But around 32 per cent will be spending more while abroad in 2011, with the extra amounting to an average of £326 per person.

Of those intending to fork out more, 32 per cent blamed the rising cost of living.

Of the 2,011 adults polled, 44 per cent said they would spend the most money on eating out, while 12 per cent said they planned to splash out on excursions.