BRITS LEFT HOT UNDER THE COLLAR WITH SKY-HIGH SUN-CREAM CHARGES | Brits heading for some summer sun are getting burned by the massive difference in price between sun lotion in the UK and some European holiday hotspots – up to £13 more per 200ml bottle.

· Britain among the cheapest places to buy sunscreen
· Sun cream much more expensive overseas – £17.45 a bottle in Ibiza
· 25% of Brits don’t pack any sun lotion at all
· Buying before travel can save £££s

But it could all be avoided if they just packed more in their cases. The NHS recommends taking four bottles per person, per week, yet in a survey of 2,000 people by online travel agent Holiday Hypermarket, 44% said they take just one bottle, while 25% said they didn’t take suntan lotion on their holiday at all.

How much sun lotion should Brits be packing?

More than they are now. Holiday Hypermarket’s survey** asked how many 200ml bottles of sun lotion people take, per adult, for a week-long sunshine holiday. Almost 90% said they take two or fewer. The NHS recommends taking FOUR bottles per person, per week, which is enough for two tablespoons’ worth, applied five times a day.

Is it that much more over there?

According to the Post Office Holiday Costs Barometer***, yes, it is. Britain is one of Europe’s cheapest places to buy suntan lotion, with an average price of £4.50 for 200ml of branded factor-15 sun cream. Compare this with Ibiza, where the average cost for the same product is a scorching £17.45! While in Halkidiki, Greece, it’s £13.15, and £9.23 in Zadar, Croatia.

So, just by waiting and purchasing sun lotion in Ibiza, a family of two adults and two young children taking four bottles of sun cream for one week in Ibiza (well below the NHS-recommended 12 bottles) would end up shelling out an extra £103 to buy the eight more bottles required during their break. Even in Halkidiki, the extra sun protection for four is £69, and in Zadar it’s £37.84 – money that could be much better spent on a few cheeky cocktails at sunset.

The table below shows the average cost of sun lotion in package holiday destinations across Europe, plus the extra cost of buying eight bottles in that destination compared to the UK.

Craig Duncan of Holiday Hypermarket says: ‘Cost is one of the most important considerations for any holiday, yet Brits are underestimating the amount of sun cream they need and then wasting hundreds by stocking up abroad.

‘A British family can spend an eye-watering £200 to buy extra lotion for a two week holiday in Ibiza. That could easily cover a few delicious family meals, a room upgrade or new holiday clothes.

‘Buying enough sun cream at a supermarket in the UK is one of the most effective money-saving holiday hacks there is!’

For more information and an infographic explaining the survey results, visit, https://www.holidayhypermarket.co.uk/hype/sun-cream-shy-brits

Notes to editors:
*NHS guidelines are to use two tablespoons of lotion to cover an adult body, which should be applied twice before going out and after every swim. Based on five applications per day, this means that the average UK adult should use four bottles of 200ml sun lotion per week, https://www.nhs.uk/live-well/healthy-body/sunscreen-and-sun-safety/.

The NHS also recommends that sunscreen should have a sun protection factor (SPF) of at least 30 to protect against UVB and at least 4-star UVA protection, https://www.nhs.uk/live-well/healthy-body/sunscreen-and-sun-safety/.

**Holiday Hypermarket asked 2,000 British people aged between 18 and 65, “How many standard (200ml) bottles of suntan lotion would you normally pack for each adult on a one-week sunshine holiday?”

The results were:
· no bottles: 25%
· one bottle: 44%
· two bottles: 19%
· three: 3%
· four: 2%
· five: 1%
· six or more: 6%

***Sunscreen average costs taken from the Post Office Holiday Costs Barometer which is checked with tourist boards and online, https://www.postoffice.co.uk/dam/jcr:3fc064dc-67b8-4df7-a956-2a906ea6877e/holiday-costs-barometer-2019-tables.pdf