Holidays to Christmas markets in the UK have been introduced to the new winter brochure from Grand UK Holidays. The over-55s specialist has added 10 domestic Christmas markets for the first time to complement its traditional range of escorted Continental festive tours. UK cities such as Manchester, Nottingham, York and Birmingham now feature Yuletide celebrations to rival those in the Eurozone and domestic Christmas markets are expected to be very popular this winter.

Sales director Harold Burke said: “Our festive programme has grown greatly over recent years and last Christmas we took away record numbers. We’ve already taken plenty of advance bookings for Turkey & Tinsel breaks in November and December, as well as holidays for the Christmas period, so we expect this trend to continue. There are plenty of fresh choices in our new winter brochure, with additions such as the UK Christmas markets, ceilidhs and a Hogmanay and Haggis holiday [£309 for seven days].

“Our holiday to Norfolk’s immensely popular Thursford Christmas spectacular is one of the highlights of the new domestic additions. We’ve also introduced ‘Credit Crunch Christmas Crackers’ at holiday villages in the UK, so customers can feel festive without splashing too much cash.”

As well as festive options, the 2009-2010 programme features autumn, winter and spring breaks in the UK and overseas, with a total of 28 new holidays throughout the 100-page brochure.

Highlights include a new ‘Let’s Get Quizzical’ holiday to the Isle of Wight, for fans of TV quiz shows such as Catchphrase, Telly Addicts and Play Your Cards Right. Two holidays by train have been added, one to Brussels and Liege, the other to the Highlands and Islands of Scotland.

Two new river cruises also appear - one visiting the Dutch bulbfields and the other taking passengers to visit Continental Christmas markets.

As 2010 approaches, more interest is expected in the Oberammergau Passion Play, staged every 10 years in Bavaria.

Bookings for the spectacular show have been coming in steadily over the past year or so but as publicity about the event grows, Grand UK anticipates rising numbers will choose this rare option for their main holiday next year.