When Vladimir Raitz, co-founder of the Horizon Holiday Group, organised the first package holiday to the Costa Brava in Spain in 1954, it would have been unimaginable that 500,000 British Citizens would, fifty years later, own property in Spain.

The Spanish Costa's was the most popular package holiday destination in the sixties and during the nineties and, according to ABTA, Spain also topped the five most popular holiday destinations in 2003, heading off France, Greece, USA and Italy.

Spain also remains the most popular destination for British people buying overseas property and Banco Halifax Hispania (BHH), the Spanish arm of the UK's largest lender, Halifax, is continuing to report an increase in demand for property within the expatriate areas of Costa Blanca, Costa Colida and Costa del Sol.

According to Datamonitor's 'Buying Property Abroad' report, 36% of the tourist housing stock in Spain is owned by Britons and 37% of second homes owned by Britons outside of the UK are located in Spain.

The package holiday boom of the seventies occurred as higher disposable incomes and cheaper charter flights opened the way to mass tourism. Similarly, the demand for Spanish property from British people has been fuelled not only by the boom in low-cost, budget airlines, but also by the huge demand for low rate Euro mortgages.

With daily flights leaving to Spain, particularly to the Costa Blanca, Costa Calida and Costa del Sol, from numerous airports across the country, British people can now benefit from cheap, affordable weekend breaks in Spain. And with BHH's interest rates starting from as low as 3.377%, a mortgage in Euros is also now considered to be a viable option.

Ian Smith, Head of European Operations, Halifax, plc, said: "When it comes to owning that holiday home in the sun, Spain is certainly the favoured location with British people. We continue to see low levels of interest rates in Spain which makes it an excellent time to finance that dream home in the sun."

The history of the package holiday:

• 1841, Thomas Cook organises a rail meeting from Leicester to Loughborough for 500 people to attend a tea-totallers meeting.
• Thomas Cook produced the first holiday brochure in 1851.
• 1855, Thomas Cook organised the first European tour. Holidaymakers were escorted across the channel to Brussels, Cologne, the Rhine, Heidelberg, Baden-Baden, Strasbourg and Paris, returning to London via Le Havre.
• In 1866, John Mason Cook, Thomas Cook's son, organised the first tour to America.
• The Hotel coupon was introduced in 1868 by Thomas Cook to pay for hotel accommodation and meals instead of using money.
• Thomas Cook's first world tour covering some 40,000 kilometres sets off from Liverpool on 26th September 1872 and lasts 222 days
• 1874, Thomas Cook develops the Thomas Cook travel credit note, a forerunner of the modern traveller's cheque.
• Interest in travelling abroad grows after the First World War, when families wished to visit the battlefields where their loved ones died.
• 1939 establishment of Defence (Finance) Regulations. The objective behind such a policy was to stop money leaving the UK except for approved purposes and to restrict the use of foreign currency resources held in the UK for matters of national interest.
• 1947 Exchange Control Act was introduced after the Second World War to replace the Defence (Finance) Regulations when it became clear that the economy could not handle the free movement of funds. Exchange controls were not abolished until 1979.
• 1954, the first package tour holiday to the Costa Brava is organised by Vladimir Raitz, co-founder of the Horizon Holiday Group. The package holiday truly opened up the country that had been closed to outsiders since Franco had taken power 15 years earlier and was quickly followed by tours to the Costa del Sol and Torremolinos.
• During the 1970's jet aircrafts replaced the coach as the standard form of transport for the package holiday. Comets, Boeing 707s and 737s and BAC 1-11s were typically used.
• Spain remained the most popular package holiday destination during the 1990's.