Because of the A(H1N1) outbreak in Mexico where 58 people have died, hotels on Mexico’s Caribbean coast are now offering free holidays for three years to any tourist who catches swine flue whilst on vacation in the area.

Mexico has some of the world’s most beautiful beaches and places like Tulum Beach in the Yucatan Peninsula and Cancun are popular beach holiday locations.

This is a bid to counter swine flu’s blow to the tourism industry as it has been hit hard by the flue epidemic with a huge amount of cancellations in hotel and holiday bookings in Mexico which has so far caused at least 25 hotels to close in and around Cancun alone and the flu’s impact, including on tourism, was expected to cost Mexico’s economy around 2.3 billion dollars.

Health Minister Jose Angel Cordova said that several top Mexican beach resorts, including Cozumel on the east coast and Puerto Vallarta on the west coast, had not registered any A(H1N1) cases at all and that “Tourist destinations are safe in Mexico, people can return calmly, we are carrying out intensive checks,” Cordova said.

About five thousand hotel rooms have so far been involved in the promotion which is hoped would demonstrate the confidence in Mexico’s beach resorts. “The ‘flu-free guarantee’ assures three years of free holidays to tourists who present flu symptoms eight days after returning from their trip,” said Fernando Garcia, director of one of the participating hotel groups. Hotel owners in Mexico will also send letters to the US government as well as US newspapers asking to remove the alert against non-essential travel Mexico due to the flu epidemic.

On the flip side, the health minister said Monday that three foreigners including one from Scotland and two from the United States were among more than two thousand swine flu cases identified in the whole of Mexico, including two who had actually had been in the popular beach resort of Cancun.

Dubai Beach

Making it easier to find the Right Dubai holiday at the Right Price

We have recently added a new page to the Dubai holiday section of the beach holiday guide: Dubai: Cheap Holidays, Flights, Hotels & Car Hire – a bit of a mouthful I know, but the idea is to have all the best travel agents and tour operators who have services that operate out of or to Dubai in one place. Making it much easier and quicker to compare prices. The Beach Holiday Guide will continue to expand the section by adding new travel agents, airline, hotel or car hire companies for Dubai that we find useful but must also be able to book online.

We hope that you find the page useful and that you enjoy your perfect holiday in Dubai in 2009

Photo Credit: Rain Rannu on Flickr

Thomas Cook Greek Holidays Sale

For this weekend only they are offering great Greek island beach holidays from only £199 with savings of up to 20% per holiday. If you cannot find the exact holiday you are after, the holiday sale also includes offers on Greek flights, hotels and short breaks.

Too Good to be true?

I am always a little sceptical when I see great holiday deals like this and always wonder what the catch is, so lets see if we can find out:

What are they offering: I will use the cheapest holiday to Greece on Thomas Cook and see just what we get for our money (if you click on the banner above it will take you to the Greek holiday deals and you can follow me)

Corfu Holiday in Greece. Photo credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/mickpix/

£138 for 7 nights self catering on Corfu including flights!

Corfu Holidays at a three star self catering accommodation from £138, including flights! The accommodation is a family run apartment are ideal for anyone looking for comfortable self catering accommodation in a great location, set in a quiet area just outside the centre of the resort but close enough to absorb the local culture and the island of Corfu has hundreds of miles of coastline and a succession of beaches that absorb its host of visitors, leaving sleepy villages and country lanes untouched and just waiting to be discovered – This all sounds great, almost to great, so whats the catch?

Outbound flight: Departs Manchester on Mon 04 May 09 at 22:20 Arrives Corfu on Tue 05 May 09 at 03:50
Inbound flight: Departs Corfu on Tue 12 May 09 at 04:50 Arrives Manchester on Tue 12 May 09 at 06:30

Well I guess a restriction would be that to get this holiday you have to travel from Manchester airport on the 4th of May, if that is convenient for you, this is sounding very, very good!

If you wanted to travel from London on the same day (4th May) the cheapest holiday I could find to a Greek island was also on Corfu, in Sidari and was for £224, which whilst is not as cheap as flying from Manchester, It is still sounding very tempting! You can try other dates and times for yourself.

Weather in Greece in May
Perhaps the weather is the catch, so what is the weather like in May in Greece?
According to the BBC weather centre:
Athens on average has 9 hours of sunlight and average minimum and maximum temperatures of 16 and 25 Celsius respectively and I would say only has an average chance of rain.
Naxos on average has 8 hours of sunlight and average minimum and maximum temperatures of 16 and 23 Celsius respectively and I would say only has a small chance of rain.
Thessaloniki on average has 9 hours of sunlight and average minimum and maximum temperatures of 14 and 25 Celsius respectively and I would say only has a average chance of rain.

Again this is looking good, I think the temperatures at this time of year in Greece are perfectly fine, not sweltering, but will be more than comfortable.

So In my opinion, yes there are restrictions, but if you need to alter the dates, or place from which you wish to travel from, there are still some pretty good deals to be had from Thomas Cook, so go on spoil yourself: Greece with it’s ancient ruins, stunning beaches, traditional tavernas and vibrant resorts and now with a great price to boot, why not escape the credit crunch and winter and head off on a winter sun holiday to Greece.

As the Northern Hemisphere goes through what I think is the worst part of winter during January and February, there are plenty of fantastic beach holiday locations in the Southern Hemisphere experiencing fantastic warm sunny weather. The problem with most of them is that they are really far away and long haul travel generally means that the cost of finding the perfect winter sun holiday in January and February is high. With this in mind I decided to see what are the best cheap winter sun holiday’s currently on offer. The Best Beach Winter Sun Holidays in January & February Challenge! To qualify for my “challenge” the holidays had to be:

• Primarily a beach holiday – opportunities for excursions a bonus.
• All inclusive holidays of at least 7 nights in duration, with flights included.
• Not too expensive – under £500, keeping in mind that best is not always the cheapest!
• Length of travel a consideration, the shorter the distance the better, direct flights are often cheaper.
• Locations have to be sunny and warm and bookable during January & February.

The candidates for best winter sun beach holidays: So where exactly can you at this time of the year go on a beach holiday, that is truly sunny and warm? Below I created a list of possible locations, but are they cheap and do they meet all the criteria listed above to make the grade? So for my first knock out stage, we will remove all locations that I couldn’t find a 7 night all inclusive winter sun break for under £500 per person or fell short in another critical area, like the weather!

Africa

• Kenya: Lamu, Mombasa and Kilifi – Winner of Best excursions that include African safaris!
• Zanzibar and Tanzania - Could not find any under £500
• The Gambia – Winner of Cheapest Holidays from £299
• South Africa, Cape Town and Durban – Could not find any under £500
  
• Mozambique - Could not find any under £500
• Namibia - Could not find any under £500
• Mauritius - Could not find any under £500
• Egypt – Whilst I could find holidays in Egypt for under £500, I felt that the weather at this time of the year in Egypt is just not war enough to make it a true winter sun beach holiday, wait until March and April for the weather to get truly warm.

Middle East

• Dubai
• Oman

The Caribbean

• Barbados
• Antigua
• Cuba
• Bahamas .. etc

North America

• Florida – Winner of Best Family Beach Holiday Location as well as a great Winter Sun destination
• Hawaii – Could not find any under £500
• Miami

Asia / Indian Ocian

• India, Goa
• Sri lanka
• Maldives

South America

• Brazil & many others – Could not find any under £500

Winners: The Best Beach Winter Sun Holidays in January and February

Below are the winners of my challenge and are in my opinion the best places you can go to to find a cheap beach holiday before the end of February. I have included the details of the holiday that I managed to find that fitted in with all the criteria , that I listed above.

Kenya, Kilifi - Winner of Best excursions that include African safaris!

Kenya and the beach resorts around Mombasa are definitly worth considering, I have been and the beaches are fantastic, the people friendly. The other great advantage of Kenya is the option to combine your beach holiday with an African Safari. Some of Kenya’s best National parks, Tsavo and Amboseli National Park are not that far away and you could easily organise a safari day trip or as an overnight stay. The famous Masai Mara is also a consderation, it is a little further but still an option. I stayed at a resort in Bamburi beach where I also learnt to scuba dive, obtaining my PADI divers license. Kenya must be one of the cheapest locations that you can get your scuba divers license and the diving as well as snorkelling on some of their reefs is excellent.

14 nights in Kenya for under £500 I found Again I found some pretty good holiday deals on lastminute.com where you can stay for a full 14 nights at a 3 star hotel on the beach in Kilifi for only £449 in January, in February, the prices rise to around £500 or just above, but because of the two week duration I felt that this holiday should still qualify. The Laguna Sea Lodge Hotel is located 64km north of Mombasa along the main beach resort strip in Kenya that includes Diani beach, Bamburi beach (where I stayed), Nyali beach and Malindi.

For more details on this beach holiday and others in Africa: www.lastminute.com

The Gambia - Winner of cheapest winter sun holidays: from £299

The second winner as an ideal cheap winter sun beach holiday location is The Gambia and again, I can talk from experience as I have been there, it does not have the excitement of the big 5 safari’s of Kenya, but this samll West African country does have some great beaches (My guide to the Best beaches in Gambia), but the best thing is it’s location. Of all the truly warm winter sun holidays, this has to be one of the closest, there are direct flights to the Gambia and as such there are plenty of cheap holiday deals to be had. The weather in The Gambia at this time of year is excellent with daily temperatures of around 30° celcius, (90°F) I managed to find 7 night all inclusive holidays for as little as £299 at a 2 star resort, the cheapest 3 star was £359

African Village Hotel Gambia

7 nights at the Authentic African Village hotel from £329 This was not the cheapest holiday to the Gambia that I found, but was one of the most interesting and so I just had to add it. You will be staying at a small, friendly hotel laid out like a typical Gambian village giving you an authentic African experience which they boast attracts many repeat guests to this small and friendly hotel situated in the bustling town of Bakau. Bakau is located at the northern end of a 10 km stretch of the Atlantic Coast in the Gambia that has a few beach resorts hotels that can be found to suit every pocket. The beaches have been improved in those places where they were not naturally perfect.

For more details on this Gambian beach holiday and others in Africa: www.lastminute.com

Florida – Winner of Best Family Beach Holiday Location as well as a great Winter Sun destination

Florida for me is an excellent Family beach holiday location, the weather is great at this time of the year, with the hurricane season a distant memory. There is plenty to do for the whole family which I wrote about in a previous blog post: Cheap Winter Sun Holidays in Orlando, Florida where I list a number of winter sun holidays for under £500 from lastminute, Thompson’s Travel and British Airways holidays.

Other Notable Recommendations:

India, Goa

Goa also makes an excellent winter sun location and has some really pretty beaches, the weather during January and February is excellent and  you are far from the monsoon season which starts in June and runs till September. I managed to find a few 7 night all inclusive holidays on lastminute.com for under £500 and even one for 14 nights for only £409 at the Osborne Resort, which whilst it is only rated 2 stars, the fact that all transfers are included, I think makes it fantastic value. You will have to hurry as this price rises to over £700 in February. I could not find any under £500 on Thomas Cook or British Airways Holidays.

Check out www.lastminute.com For this and other holidays to India.

…. to be continued

Please note for the beach winter sun challenge, I used the popular Thomas Cook, Lastminute.com & British Airways Travel companies availability and prices of holidays and am sure that other specialist travel companies may have offered holidays in locations that I could not find with these, but I decided to stick to these mainsteam companies to act as a guide to popular destinations.

Well that has changed from today as we have now developed our news/blog site.

I hope you enjoy it, and if so please subscribe to our news feed or come back and visit us often as we hope to update this section on a regualr basis