Spare a thought, if you will, for the travel agents. I know they’re not high on your sympathy list, but stick with me.

When that business with the banks and the mortgages happened at the end of last year, people started predicting that none of us would go on holiday ever again.

And while that’s thankfully not quite the case, a quarter of respondents to a recent poll carried out on behalf of The Times claimed to have cancelled plans for their summer holiday.

Unsurprisingly, over the past six months, tour operators have been cutting prices left and right to encourage us to book. Realising even that is not enough, crafty companies are coming up with ever more bizarre incentives to get our business. Any of these take your fancy?

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This month, Kuoni (020 7361 7800, kuoni.co.uk) launches At Home with Kuoni. You invite a bunch of friends round to yours, and Kuoni sends round a personal travel consultant armed with generous supplies of free champagne, fine wines and canapés.

There is no fee for the service or, the company insists, any obligation to buy so much as a wet weekend in Blackpool. The only condition is that the party must consist of at least six people.

“Some people don’t have the time to visit one of our travel stores and don’t want to surf the net for hours,” the company explains. “We think they will like an alternative where they can speak to a real person in their own home.”

Most parties will last about 90 minutes and, to guard against accusations of pressure selling, the deals and additional discounts At Home users are offered (£100 off a booking worth £3,000, with the host getting a 5% discount and a further 1% for every guest who signs up) will last for a week. Before you reach for the party poppers, though, bear in mind that, as most ofits consultants are based in London and Manchester, the majority of parties will be in these cities and surrounding areas, although there are reps dotted about elsewhere.

Another upmarket operator, Abercrombie & Kent (www.abercrombiekent.co.uk ), will be holding online travel auctions throughout May. Two trips a week (including a week at the Four Seasons in the Seychelles and another at Raffles Canouan Island in the Caribbean) will go under the hammer to the highest bidder.

Other schemes focus on particular areas that get our collective travel goat. The adventure specialist Black Tomato (blacktomato.co.uk), for example, has just introduced a currency map on its website. Each week, it highlights five destinations where the pound still packs a punch, and gives cost-of-living examples so travellers have a more accurate picture of their holiday costs. Apart from the obvious places (South Africa and Iceland), it’s touting Costa Rica,where a main course in an upmarket restaurant often costs less than £7; and Croatia, where hotels are about 20% cheaper than most other European destinations.

Another currency-related issue is the imposition of surcharges. Following last year’s hike in oil prices, airlines were quick to bump up costs for customers who had booked early, but they are refusing to refund these fees even though fuel is cheaper again. Many holidaymakers are now waiting until the last minute to book to avoid the possibility of unexpected extras.

To counter that fear, Bales Worldwide (0845 057 1819, balesworldwide.com) is promising that, for all tailor-made bookings to destinations where it trades in dollars, it will convert at the rate at which it forward purchased (£1 to $1.80) rather than at today’s more miserable one of £1 to $1.47.

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