Away days from Cairo to Iceland

A couple who strolled into a travel agency this month booked themselves 11 days away this summer. What's so special about that? Well, their 11 days were to 11 different places in Europe.

That couple, from the South of England, were just an extreme example of a boom in the demand for day trips abroad. This year there are more trips available than ever, including to destinations as far away as Cairo, Iceland, St Petersburg and Marrakesh.

'It's the perfect holiday for the cash-rich, time-poor generation,' says Glynis Jeffery, business development manager of leading day-trips operator Transun, which is taking 22,000 travellers on one-day breaks this year. 'People are booking up several at once. They're collecting them like stamps.'

Today's day trips vary from the classic, such as a day with a gondola ride round Venice from £169, to the extraordinary, like touring the Byzantine capital of Istanbul for £299.

More and more people are deciding it's worth spending half a day travelling to spend the other half getting a whistle-stop tour of an exotic city.

Transun's day in St Petersburg involved a total of ten hours flying, but an exhausting 12 hours in the Russian city.

Palmair, another day-trip specialist, offers a day in Cairo that includes nine hours' flying and eight-and-a-half hours on the ground, including a camel ride.

With no packing, no luggage to carry, no waiting to reclaim bags at airports, no time-wasting transfers to hotels and no worries about what the hotel will be like when you get there, the day trips are striking a chord with many.

Palmair plans to take more than 6,000 people on day trips abroad this year, all from Bournemouth airport.

And boss Stephen Bath says: 'It's growing very rapidly. People really seem to enjoy them. Repeat business is up and people tell their friends how good it was, so they follow suit. Our day trips are 16 per cent up on last year - and that's despite the negative effect of September 11.'

Many day trips use smaller regional airports, which are often easier to get to with quicker and cheaper parking - and less frantic check-ins.

The day-trip process has become streamlined with fast check-ins often including return boarding passes, then fast transfers direct to the main sights at the destination and experienced escorts.

Some day trips allow you the freedom to wander around, say, Rome - maybe concentrating on just seeing the Vatican or heading for a great restaurant. Others are escorted. You'll see more but may resent being herded around all day.

Many day trips include optional excursions, ranging from a reasonable £49 for a three-hour whale-watching trip during a visit to Iceland, to a £20 tour of Barcelona's Nou Camp football stadium.

The day-trip brochures began as a way of using spare charter aircraft on the odd days when they were not being used to take families on week-long package holidays. That's why Airtours' programme of day trips runs only in the winter, when there are planes spare. Its range of days out includes skiing in the Alps, Christmas markets in Germany, a visit to Colditz Castle and having a flutter at the casino in Monte Carlo.

Transun offers 24 international day trips flying from 21 regional airports, but again, only in the low season until April. 'It has grown year on year,' says Transun's Glynis Jeffery. 'We get lots of repeat business. People first go to celebrate a special occasion, then realise how good it is. Demand has grown so much now that people go in and book several at once. And we have waiting lists for many of the trips because they sell out so fast.

'I don't think there's a limit to this. There are hundreds of possible destinations.'

Palmair's Stephen Bath admitted their day trips started because it was 'better than having our plane sitting on the runway in the rain doing nothing'. Yet the operators uncovered a demand no one realised was there.

The appeal seems broad - from women going on shopping trips to romantic couples looking for an exciting day out; from singles who don't have to worry about eating and staying alone in a foreign country to those simply looking for a quick taster of a country to see whether it's worth going back for a long holiday.

Palmair is offering 30 European day trips and 30 day trips to Jersey this year, with trips available every week through the summer season.

'Even in these days of long-haul travel, it's still extraordinary to get up in your own home, see the Pyramids before lunchtime and be back in your own bed that night,' says Stephen Bath.

? Airtours (0800 028 8001 or www.airtours.com), Transun (0870 444 4747 or www.transun. co.uk), Palmair agents Bath Travel (0870 738 7373 or www.bathtravel.com).