Many thousands of Britons are taking advantage of a later Easter this year with a
holiday abroad, according to Thomas Cook booking figures. The most popular
destinations for Easter 2006 are Tenerife, Lanzarote and Cyprus - a change from last
year where the Canary Islands took all four top spots in the list of favourite
holiday destinations. This is partly due to Easter falling in April, when more
holiday resorts are open for business than in March.

The complete top ten destinations for Easter this year are as follows:

Easter 2006
      1.      Tenerife (/)
      2.      Lanzarote (/)
      3.      Cyprus (Paphos) (+)
      4.      Gran Canaria (-)
      5.      Mallorca (new entry)
      6.      The Algarve (+)
      7.      Tunisia (+)
      8.      Fuerteventura (-)
      9.      The Red Sea (-)
      10.      Costa Blanca (new entry)

Easter 2005
      1.      Tenerife
      2.      Lanzarote
      3.      Gran Canaria
      4.      Fuerteventura
      5.      Alicante
      6.      Cyprus (Paphos)
      7.      The Red Sea
      8.      Tunisia
      9.      Costa del Sol
10.      The Algarve

The Canary Islands are firm favourites for Easter holidays, as they offer excellent
sunny weather - but in April destinations like Cyprus, Tunisia and the Red Sea also
benefit from warm temperatures and are very affordable. The Spanish destinations of
Mallorca and Costa Blanca, plus The Algarve in Portugal offer great family
entertainment and over Easter should see average temperatures of more than 20
degrees Celsius.

Tony Hopkins, Director of Product and Publishing at Thomas Cook said:  “A late
Easter means more options for family holidays, as certain destinations are on offer
that aren’t open in March. Crete and Rhodes are open in April and tour operators
like Thomas Cook have more flights and hotels in the east of Cyprus, as well as
Majorca and Turkey in late April compared to March. It looks as though hundreds of
thousands of us will be taking advantage of that this year and heading off to the
sun.”

Long haul-destinations are also more popular for Easter holidays this year, with
Cuba and the Dominican Republic both featuring among the top 20 destinations for
April.
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