Single parents pay more to go on holiday than two-parent families, according to research

Lone parents can expect to pay up to £500 more than if they were travelling with a partner

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Single parents continue to suffer a financial penalty when booking package holidays compared to two-parent families, recent research suggests.

Travel money specialist FairFX have found that a single parent travelling alone with a child during peak season can expect to pay up to £500 per more than if they were travelling with a partner.

All holidays researched were for one adult and a two-year-old child, versus two adults and a two-year-old child, flying from London Gatwick on 11 August 2018.

A First Choice holiday to the Holiday Village Rhodes for seven nights cost an extra £515 per person for a single adult travelling with one child, compared to two paying adults travelling with a child of the same age. This works out as an extra 32 per cent more per person for the same trip.

Similarly, a holiday to the five-star Princess Andriana Resort & Spa in Rhodes was £359 more expensive for one parent to travel with their child, making it almost a quarter (24 per cent) more expensive than the cost per person for a two-parent family.

Travel operators TUI and First Choice offer free child places, but only when the child is accompanied by two paying adults.

Airtours offer ‘child prices’ for some hotels, but this discount is only applicable when the child is sharing a room with at least two people paying the full adult price. Thomas Cook Holidays operate the same pricing policy.

Ian Strafford-Taylor, CEO of FairFX, said: “Our research shows that families are being hit with unfair pricing inconsistencies which, in many cases, are unfavourable for single parents or parents travelling solo with their child this summer.

“Travel operators appear to be basing their pricing structure on the stereotypical ‘nuclear’ family and that’s just not realistic. Nowadays, families come in different shapes and sizes and it’s time travel operators evolved their business models to reflect reality. It should cost the same amount whether there’s one parent or two taking a child on holiday; it’s unfair for parents to be penalised for travelling solo.”

Despite Virgin Holidays launching a series of packages for single parent families to the Caribbean in 2017, such long-haul trips may be out of reach for many families seeking something cheaper closer to home.

While there is a wealth of tour operators providing travel opportunities for lone travellers, the few that exist for single parents tend to be at the more expensive end of the market. With 47 per cent of children in single parent families living in relative poverty, according to Gingerbread, the charity for single parents – around twice the rate of children in couple families – cost is a significant consideration.