Feeble pound shifts Britons' holiday targets

By Naomi Tajitsu

LONDON (Reuters) - Vodka, the famous Starowka quarter and the Palace of Culture commonly draw tourists to Warsaw, but John Bentley had a more mercenary motive for holidaying there recently -- it wouldn't break the bank, despite sterling's weakness.

As the summer holiday season begins, sterling's frailty coupled with a rise in airfares due to soaring oil prices are changing Britons' holiday plans in Europe -- by far their most popular playground.

With Britain's summer shaping up cold, wet and expensive, there is not much sign of a big shift to stay-at-home tourism: visits to Europe by UK residents in the year through to April slipped only by 1 percent to 55.2 million, official data show.

That figure is easily double the 23.6 million Europeans who holidayed in the UK during the same period, suggesting Britons for now at least remain keen to flock to Europe.

But while holiday mainstays like France and Italy -- euro zone countries whose single currency hovers near a record high against sterling -- remain a magnet for UK tourists, cheaper European destinations outside the euro zone are gaining in popularity.

Awaiting his flight at London's City Airport earlier this month, Bentley said the weak pound was making it hard to travel in the euro zone.

"You feel it more than you did one or two years ago," he said. "It definitely makes you think twice about costs when you get (to your destination)."

Sterling is stuck near an all-time low to the euro around 81 pence, nearly 20 percent weaker on the year. The pound has been pummeled by a slowing UK economy as a struggling housing market weighs on consumer confidence and growth.