Holidays times three, please!

Cheap travel, long hours at the office and frazzled family relationships are making the average Briton into a three times a year holidaymaker, according to new figures.

More than seven in 10 adults now have three or more holidays a year.

Many say they need the extra opportunities to see their kids, partners or friends who, they worry, do not command enough quality time during the rest of the year. And it is typifying a "work hard, play hard" attitude among those who feel having three breaks a year is just reward for all the hours they put in at the office.

The summer holiday is not dead, it is just no longer the only chance for the average Briton to get away, said the research by online company MyTravel.com. It found two thirds of people take three holidays a year with seven per cent taking four, five or more.

Fewer than one in five stick to one break a year.

The study of nearly 500 family holidaymakers also found three in 10 go away to try a new adventure, pursuit or activity such as watersports instead of just lying in the sun.