The Independent Traveller: Ten Years After

HOW THE WORLD HAS CHANGED: AN INNOVATIVE CITY BREAK SERIES

"PARIS BY Air for pounds 179" - this single advertisement encapsulates a vast amount of change in travel. In a decade, the price for a comparable flight has, if anything declined.

The main reason is the birth of Eurostar, which began running trains through the Channel tunnel five years ago (it is now selling weekends with first-class travel for pounds 129, though the hotel does not compare with the Hilton). The company that took out the advert (pictured above) in The Independent was, in 1989, a small tour operator that was aggressively buying up seats on scheduled flights and packaging them with accommodation.

Today, Airtours is the second-biggest holiday company in Britain, with its own airline and travel agent (Going Places). It recently bought city- break operator, Bridge Travel, which sends hundreds of thousands of people to Paris each year - many of them paying less than pounds 179.