If you’re still reeling from yesterday’s Autumn Budget statement, a travel expert has added further misery by claiming it would be cheaper to holiday abroad in December than reside in Britain.
In a new cost of living blow, Rob Brooks, who provides holiday information and deals online, says it would be cheaper to go all-inclusive in Tunisia than pay the bills back home. “It’s literally cheaper to go all-inclusive for a month than live here in the UK – and that is scandalous,” he declared in a TikTok video.
Sharing a screenshot of a holiday booking in Port El Kantaoui in the North African hotspot, Rob explained that he’d found a deal for a 28-night stay at a cost of around £800. “It’s actually less than it costs to live here [in the UK] and I can prove it,” he said.
Rob continued, listing the average cost of monthly UK bills, namely: rent/mortgage £1,200; food shopping £400; energy bills £140; council tax, WiFi £150; and TV licence and miscellaneous expenses £100 – giving a grand total of £1,900. “So before you have even bought a present for anyone, you’re already at about £2,000 just to exist,” he noted.
“That’s £2,000 to be cold, stressed and living out of the fridge all month,” Rob said, before providing further details of the holiday package he found. Sharing another screenshot as proof, he pointed out that the four-week stay at Port El Kantaoui’s Hotel Riviera Sousse with all meals, snacks and drinks including direct flights would set you back less than the aforementioned domestic expenses.
Rob boasted of the resort further: “The hotel has a huge pool area, slides, entertainment, and it has over 4,000 reviews averaging 4.1 out of 5, which is unreal for a resort of this price.” He also compared the average December temperatures – 17-20C in Tunisia to a miserbale 6C in the UK.
He reiterated: “So while you are spending £2,000 back home to survive in December, you could have all that in Tunisia. December doesn’t have to be dark and damp – you could generally save money by packing up and moving out of the country for four weeks. But I appreciate it’s not that easy!”
Writing in response, one TikTok user revealed: “People have been doing it for years. We met several elderly people overseas spending the winter months away from Britain.”
And a second person similarly shared: “People have been doing this for decades. In Mallorca in 1989 there were pensioners at our hotel that spent the whole winter there.”
Of course, Rob’s idea doesn’t factor in the fact bills don’t go away when you holiday abroad – as many others commented. “Fine, but even if you go away your mortgage/rent doesn’t take a month off,” one of those said. “So, it’s doesn’t work does it?”
And indeed Rob acknowledged his video was simply to point out the contrasting cost of living expenses. It comes after Rachel Reeves insisted she does not deny the impact on “ordinary” people after unleashing £26 billion worth of tax hikes as she argued the changes are “fair” and “necessary”.
The average household will be “£850 worse off (2%) in 2029-30 than 2024-25 but higher-income households will now bear the brunt of the decline”, according to the Joseph Rowntree Foundation. Those “in the highest income third will be the worst off over this parliament, seeing their income fall by £2,230”. Lifting the two-child benefits cap “more than halves the decline in living standards for the poorest third of households”.
