Hen and stag dos 'becoming more exotic'

For many brides and grooms-to-be, comma waving goodbye to their freedom can be a painful experience and one which needs a suitably debauched farewell.

So it may come as no surprise that fiances are becoming more ambitious with their stag and hen celebrations, taking their parties to far-flung destinations in a bid to hold the most-exotic pre-wedding celebration.

According to a widely-reported Morgan Stanley survey in 2004, the average stag weekend now costs £365 and men fork out £112 on food and drink during their last fling with freedom.

Women on the other hand spend just £62 while celebrating with their female friends.

Ben Rodger, marketing manager of releasetravel.co.uk, explained: "Groups are looking to explore newer more exotic destinations and escape their current financial worries.

"The attitude seems to be 'I can just stick it on my credit card and worry about it later'."

He said that as a result his company has seen groups travel to Las Vegas and New York in a bid to have the mother of all stag and hen dos.

UK destinations, he noted, will remain popular but as more people in a friendship group get married, comma fiances become reluctant to have their celebrations in the same place as their peers.

Instead, more "memorable" locations are being sought after.

"It makes perfect sense when you think that a group of friends may have already been on four or five stag or hen weekends," he claimed.

The wedding expert added: "They do not want to go to the same UK destinations over and over again thus they are always looking for something a little different to 'better' the last celebration."

Research conducted by Halifax Travel backs up Mr Rodger's assertion, after finding that the rise in single-sex holidays being taken by Brits has been sparked by stag and hen do trends.

The study found that 8.6 million Brits have taken a single sex holiday in the last year, with UK travellers 67 per cent more likely to take this sort of break now compared with five years ago.

Furthermore, maybe unsurprisingly, this trend is more prevalent with men with 26 per cent of males jetting off on a lads break compared with 19 per cent of women taking time out for female fun.

Researchers found that 25 per cent of these trips were for stag and hen parties, although relationship woes had prompted four per cent to go away with a friend, while three per cent headed abroad to get over a break-up.