The wettest UK summer on records is having huge effects on the tourist industry, bringing increasing numbers of Brits to Spain for Christmas breaks.

Areas like the Costa Blanca and Costa del Sol have seen a huge surge in holiday bookings for agent TravelRepublic.co.uk, with traditional favourite resorts reaffirming their appeal.

Leading Costa Blanca holiday venue, the coastal resort of Benidorm, has seen a 213 per cent increase in year on year bookings, with Malaga, at the heart of the Costa del Sol, registering a 329 per cent boost at TravelRepublic.co.uk.

The figures show that overall hotel room occupation for Spanish locations has seen a 240 per cent interannual rise for the Christmas period – with a full nine weeks still to go.

Full Xmas hotel rooms on the Costa Blanca are no surprise, with the south-eastern region recently overtaking time-honoured favourite the Costa del Sol as Spain’s most visited area, tabling near full late summer hotel occupancy.

Many of the British and other overseas visitors to the Costas do not of course need hotels, with large numbers deciding to invest in Spanish property and settle in the country’s sunnier climes.

Air travel experts have claimed that online check-in has made travel ever-easier, reducing stress and costs in order to enable easy travel to top European destinations like Spain.

Claiming that the new airport registration system had no disadvantages, being “good for airlines and good for passengers”, the consumer-oriented Air Transport Users Council (AUC) said that the industry as a whole was embracing the system.

James Freemantle, industry affairs manager for the AUC, said: “It’s cheaper for airlines to check in passengers online, which hopefully means cheaper fares.

“The second benefit is practical; for passengers it’s very easy to check in online, they don’t have to wait in queues in the airport.”

Over half of the world’s airlines now offer online check in, with 89 per cent planning on implementing it within the next two years, according to a survey by air transport communications and IT firm SITA.

Check-in by mobile phone, by use of codes, was identified by the AUC as a further innovation to add to online options, with Spanish locations served by no hassle low-cost airlines likely to seem ever closer with increased check-in facilities.