Tour operators prepare to sell cheapest ever holidays

Tour operators are lining up to sell some of their cheapest ever package deals.

Summer holidays officially go on sale tomorrow, with up to half a million expected to be purchased by the end of the month.

Spain, Portugal and the Canaries are leading the popularity field with Irish holidaymakers.

Panorama Marketing Manager Eamon Quinn says that despite the economic slowdown many Irish people can still afford a foreign holiday.

"Package holidays have declined by 400-500% at a time when other goods have continually risen," he said.

"It is very affordable, you have got to think also of the disposable income of the families and households, that has risen, and how the price of holidays overseas have more or less plummeted over the past decade."