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Families splurge £500 on unexpected holiday costs

Paloma Kubiak
Written By:
Paloma Kubiak
Posted:
Updated:
12/06/2017

Parents can expect to face an unexpected bill of around £500 for taking their kids on holiday this summer, according to a study. 

Families splurge £491 on average on food, activities, accessories and gadgets for the kids that they have not budgeted for.

And pre-teens aged between 6-12 year are the most expensive, costing families an extra £577.

Clothing topped the table for unexpected costs with young adults splurging an average of £128 ahead of the trip.

Surprise mobile phone roaming charges came in at £125 and parents spent an average £101 on tech gadgets to keep the kids quiet on journeys.

Asda Money also found that ‘staycations’ in the UK are the most expensive type of holiday for unexpected costs.

With the additional costs, a quarter of families said they will stop taking children on paid holidays when they reach the age of 18,  and one in ten have actually had to cancel a family holiday in the process of planning due to the associated costs involved.

Just over half (56%) worry about the costs of taking a child on holiday, and two in five (39%) feel pressure to do so.

Neil Foster, head of Asda travel money, said: “Families have enough on their plate without the burden of escalating holiday costs hanging over them. Our research highlights some of the things that can so easily drop off the priorities list but are likely to add to the final bill.

“Last year Asda Travel Money research showed that a third of Brits were staying at home for their summer holidays, however as this data shows staycations also come with their own costs, many of which are easily overlooked. For those families who are heading abroad they do still need to ensure they are getting the best value for money.”

The table below shows the planned and unexpected costs of taking children on holiday:

Option Child age 0-5 Child age 6-12 Child age 13-15 Child age 16-18
Planned costs £398 £809 £835 £839
Unexpected costs £295 £577 £539 £554
Source: Opinium Research March 2017