Holidaymakers face inflation-busting increases in passport fees.
The cost of an adult passport will rise £5.50, or 7%, to £77.50, the Home Office said.
Fewer people are going abroad as families tighten their belts in the recession, meaning applications for passports were 400,000 below the expected level.
The rises, which will come in to force in September, will see the price of a child passport increase £3 to £49.
Fast-track adult applications, which take a week, will cost 15% more, up £15.50 to £112.50.
Prices have shot up in the last decade. In 1997 a passport cost £18. In 2007 it cost £51 and by last year it was £72.
The cost increases are in part due to the inclusion of biometric technology to improve security.
A Home Office spokesman denied the increase was related to ID cards.
But shadow home Secretary, Chris Grayling, said: "This looks like a blatant attempt to bury part of the cost of the ID scheme in the price of a passport. The Government admits that it has no idea how many people will have to volunteer for ID cards before they cover their costs, so it looks like the cost is being lumped on to our passports."
Immigration Minister Phil Woolas said British passports were a "gold standard" in identity documents. "Since the last fee increase in 2007 the Identity and Passport Service has issued almost eight million first generation ePassports, containing secure chips holding an individual's passport details and facial biometric."
