Pester power is costing parents £80 on the beach

Published on Thursday 14 July 2011 15:50

Holidaying parents spend an average of almost £80 per child on extras for the beach, according to a survey.

More than 5 per cent of families spend more than 200 after giving in to children's "pester power", the survey showed.

Bulgaria has the best beach item bargains, while the Vendee region of France was the most expensive of the 13 destinations surveyed. The survey, by Post Office Travel Money, covered 743 parents with children under the age of 21 who had been on holiday with their offspring in the last five years.

On average, parents paid 78.98 on beach items, including ice creams, which they had not originally budgeted for.

Only 13 per cent of parents resisted demands for extras by their children.

Looking at a range of items including buckets and spades, ice creams and pedalo hire, the survey showed that Bulgaria was the least expensive of the 13 destinations, with the items costing 47.93.

The same items in Brighton cost 65.49, putting the English south coast resort in seventh place in the holiday cost table.

The items cost as much as 96.28 in the Vendee region of France - the most expensive destination.

Portugal, at 34.31, was the cheapest of the destinations for dining out based on a three-course meal for two adults and two children in a local, tourist-class restaurant, including a bottle of house wine and two soft drinks.

Brighton was seventh in this list as well, with a meal costing 54.10. Italy was the most expensive destination for eating out, with a meal setting a family back 98.04.

Post Office Travel Money head Sarah Munro said: "Sterling has taken a battering recently and when you combine the reducing spending power of sterling with higher resort charges, it means that families will have to contend with spiralling holiday costs this year.

"As our research shows, paying out extra for kids' 'must haves' could bust the holiday budget - so the clear message must be to pack the suitcase carefully."