Londoner Alison Graham had a shock in Rome last week. “We ordered two glasses of prosecco and a G&T,” she says. “The bill was £25.” The Nurofen to cure the resulting headache cost another £7.80, but the pain for tourists is set to get worse.

As the pound continues to plummet, holidaymakers will be getting fewer euros to the pound than at any time since the introduction of the single currency.

As we went to press, £100 bought just €98.04 at the Post Office - this time last year it would have bought you about €135. The consequences are clear: our holidays are going to cost us a lot more in 2009.

How much more? In January 2008, lunch for two in La Albahaca restaurant in Seville cost £28. This week, the same meal is almost £39.

Skiing the Alps: the cost is brutal

The true effect of sterling's collapse against the euro is painfully evident in the Alps this winter

The best last minute travel deals and bargains

Catch up on the latest news and and deals as they are published. Latest: Austria and France deals

BACKGROUND

• How to get the best deal on low cost flights

• Trips abroad take a pounding as euro strengthens

• The best holiday bargains to book now

• Bargains for the brave – Thailand slashes prices

• Sliding pound hits skiers but bargains are out there

Related Links

• The best last minute travel deals and bargains

A large cappuccino in Venice that cost £3.11 then is now £4.29. The outlook, tour operators are admitting, is bleak - but with survey after survey indicating that we’re not ready to forgo our foreign holidays, here’s how to squeeze the last drop from the withered pound.

GO ALL-INCLUSIVE

While self-catering options are in decline for next summer, “bookings for the resort-style all-inclusives have gone up by 15 per cent”, says market analyst Sarah Smalley.

Critics point out that these sprawling self-contained resorts prevent money from reaching local communities, but it’s easy to see the attraction - an all-inclusive, peak-season week at Thomson’s San Miguel Beach Club on Ibiza (0871 231 4691, www.thomson.co.uk) costs £714pp.

At the top end, the same week for a family of four in the posh Mark Warner resort at Lakitira on the Greek island of Kos (0871 703 3887, www.markwarner.co.uk ) comes in at £3,772. It may hurt, but at least you know how much it will hurt.

LEAVE THE EUROZONE

"The Middle East is the new Europe,” says Ashley Toft of the tour operator Explore, and while bookings to Greece and Spain are down, they’re soaring in Turkey, Egypt and Morocco - although the last of these should be treated with caution because most tour operators now buy Moroccan holidays in euros.

Turkey’s popularity has also caused some price rises - the 30p bottle of Efes beer is a thing of the past - but prices are still low compared to neighbouring Greece.

Times recommends

• The HQ of the great morairaway.com villa scam: a postbox
• The bloggers' travel guide to. . . Copenhagen and Malmö
• A Devon holiday with mates - on a budget