EasyJet, one of the leading providers of flights between Spain and the UK, has said that the internet has “revolutionised” the possibilities for holiday arrangement.

The budget airline company said that with the options so clear and so wide-ranging, internet-searchers are encouraged to travel by the availability of a great number of deals and an increasingly flexible and easy service.

EasyJet was one of the first airlines to offer a range of cheap flights across Europe, but has found that new internet booking and information systems are far more effective than the telephone services the company initially used.

A spokesperson for the airline hailed the transition: “In 1998 we launched our online booking service and very quickly, within a year, our total online booking was about 30 per cent.

“It means you have greater choice, people always love a bargain and the internet enables you to search for exactly what you want.”

Thanks to airlines like easyJet Brits are able to enjoy frequent flight to Spain and elsewhere on the continent - research published by the Office for National Statistics in 2006 showed that 80 per cent of all visits abroad made by UK residents were to European destinations.

EasyJet flies to Valencia from Stansted, Gatwick and Bristol airports, while Malaga, in the heart of the Costa del Sol, is served by the airline from a further six UK airports.

Spanish property offers ‘long-term capital gains’

Spain is now a key location for the purchase of both pleasant holiday homes and for mature investment seeking healthy long-term capital gains, according to a property specialist.

Off Plan International, owner of housing market portal offplanproperty.info, said that Spain had become a key market for educated property investment, with more than just sunny holiday-homes on offer.

A spokesperson for Off Plan International said that “Spain is still a popular place for Brits to invest”, explaining that a fair amount of UK buyers were looking primarily for holiday homes.

He added, however, that more dynamic buying also had an outlet in the country: “There are still areas at the peak of development, so you have an area with a large amount of development and a large amount of properties, which are obviously all in competition with each other to be let out.”

Off Plan International qualified its analysis by indicating that in these peak areas a good degree of investment was targeting the longer term and potentially high capital gains.

“Rather than people investing and wanting their return back quickly, a lot of people are buying in a more educated way,” added the group’s spokesman.