Flexible holidays to help workers get away

Forthcoming changes in holiday allowance will enable more UK workers to leave the country for short breaks and week-long getaways, Thomson.co.uk has predicted.

From October this year, two million full-time employees will benefit from 24 days' annual holiday including bank holidays, while holiday entitlement will rise to 28 days' holiday by 2009.

Those additional days will give workers added flexibility on working dates, allowing Britons to flee to sunnier climes for extended weekend breaks or longer sojourns abroad.

"People who have had little flexibility with their holiday in the past now have enough to enjoy a good two-week break or just take off for a weekend or midweek short break," a Thomson spokesperson told Travel Weekly.

Among those opting for shorter breaks this summer, Thomson.co.uk revealed that its most popular destinations were Palma, Prague, Barcelona, Salzburg and Marrakech.

Marrakech, the most exotic of the five, opened up to UK tourists travelling on a budget courtesy of low-cost airlines easyJet, which started daily flights from London Gatwick last July.