Now that the January round-ups are over and we settle down in to the year ahead, what does 2011 really hold in store for holidaymakers and the travel industry this year?

Online travel retailer, lowcostholidays.com is taking a global view with new destinations opening up throughout 2011. Closer to home, holidays in Greece have become increasingly popular, with positive growth bolstering the company’s confidence as it moves in to the bold new world of European expansion.

Year-on-year successes remain high, with the Algarve up 90 per cent, the beautiful islands of the Canaries up 75 per cent and an astounding 100 per cent increase in Malta holidays. For the first year, lowcostholidays is able to show off its impressive gains with cities and long haul destinations; City breaks are up by 150 per cent and long haul holidays taking a 130 per cent jump heading in to the summer.

The new long haul destinations have really been of interest to consumers. Being able to offer low prices to some of the most exotic destinations in the world such as Thailand and Sri Lanka, has allowed lowcostholidays to really live up to their motto that “now anyone can go anywhere”.

Greece is one of the top destinations for lowcostholidays’ customers and has proved to be a reliable destination of choice, now up 59 per cent on the same time last year with nearly 130,000 unique site visitors exploring Greece as there next holiday of choice. With its many resorts, clear waters and idyllic beaches it’s not hard to see why.

Valentines Day gave the expected surge in visitors to lowcostholidays.com proving that investment in cheap deals targeted at key events allows consumers real choice. With the added bonus of a Royal Wedding this spring, holidaymakers are looking to make the most of the bank holidays and look to explore how far their budget can reach on lowcost’s new city breaks and the expansion of their core base of local beach resorts.

lowcostholidays also launched it European expansion program, with existing sites in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Ireland and Sweden and planned expansion to Spain and Italy.

It’s an exciting year for the team at lowcostholidays but also a time to reflect on 2010 – the ash cloud, the collapse of a number of flight providers and also the on going task to remain competitive in an increasingly dense ‘budget travel’ market. But, with summer 2011 holiday deals to destinations such as Greece from under £180 per person 2011 is sure to be an interesting year; will long haul and city breaks become the bread and butter for low cost travel companies or will the beach resorts hold strong?