Travel companies across Britain are reporting a recent surge in foreign holidays following predictions of more rain.

Britain has already received a fortnight of rain, while the Met office has revised a forecast of wet weather until September, with travel firms inundated with requests for late deals.

Online travel company Expedia said that in the last few days there has been a significant increase in queries for long haul destinations, with Thailand up 165% and Hong Kong up by 122%.

The Association of British Travel Agents (ABTA) was reporting that its members were experiencing increases of business of over 40% as many people had put off booking in advance.

Holidaymakers were either planning on staying at home or postponing their holidays until next year, but the bad weather has forced many to reconsider.

Spokesman for the ABTA, Sean Tipton, said “We were expecting a late booking market because of the recession and people worried about their jobs were leaving it as late as possible to make a decision, but the bad weather has created a real surge.

“We sold 45 million holidays last year and were running well down on that. The good news for consumers is that means there are more late deals than usual as tour operators struggle to fill capacity.”

Travel companies say that perceptions of the price of European holidays were usually wrong, with many operators is Greece and Spain forced to drop the prices to fill hotels.

A survey released in July showed that a cup of coffee and a bottle of beer were all cheaper in Spain and France than in the UK.

Britain’s favourite destinations to travel abroad this summer are Turkey, Greece and Spain, and prices to Mexico have slumped following the outbreak of swine flu.

Thanks to the Telegraph for the above quotes.  For more information visit telegraph.co.uk