Shorter holidays appealing to Brits

Shorter holidays, such as a weekend ferry trip to France, are increasingly appealing to Brits, one expert has said this week.

According to the Association of Independent Tour Operators (Aito), people are opting for shorter holidays as they can avoid taking too much time off work with this sort of trip.

Ian Bradley, spokesperson for Aito, explained that Europe is still "very important" for this market as there is "so much to do" in countries such as France, Spain and Austria.

He added: "You don't have to take three weeks off to do an adventure holiday or an activity holiday. You can do it pretty quickly as well, without taking too much time off work."

An activity holiday abroad could include anything from hiking in the French Alps to cycling around Amsterdam for a few days.

Research published by Mintel found that activity holidays are now outperforming the overall travel market and by 2008 these types of trips are expected to account for one in eight of all Britons' breaks.