SCHOOL SUMMER GETAWAY
Date published: 17 July 2008As the majority of schools break up this Friday, this weekend is one of the major getaway weekends for the year. ABTA predict that over two million of us will be heading overseas this weekend 18-21 July.
Traffic through the main airports will be very busy with 460,000 leaving from Heathrow, 260,000 Gatwick, 150,000 Stansted, 160,000 Manchester, 75,000 Luton, 70,000 Birmingham and 150,000 from the main Scottish airports. In addition hundreds of thousands will be heading out through regional airports and over or under the channel.
So far, plans for family holidays have remained unchanged and bookings remain strong for the summer. According to research company Ascent-MI, which works in partnership with ABTA and provides forward booking market intelligence, summer holiday bookings out of the UK were up 1% at the end of June compared to the same time last year.
Despite hikes in the Euro, Spain is still the number one destination and has experienced increased bookings for the Canary Islands. Growth is also being experienced for France, Malta, and the Caribbean but the biggest growth in bookings this year are for Egypt, which is up 28 per cent, Turkey up 20 per cent and the USA up eight per cent.
Capacity cuts made by the major tour operators however, has meant that there are less late deals available for the peak season.
Mark Tanzer, ABTA Chief Executive said: “With a changing economic climate, many existing trends have become more pronounced. Spain for example, is still the top destination this year, but as a mature destination, and with the strong euro, greater growth is being experienced in the mid to long haul destinations outside of the Eurozone, which is where many ABTA Members have concentrated new programmes. Conversely, there is no surprise that with the weak dollar, the US is doing well, and forward bookings for the US look strong.”
There is some evidence that families are making some changes to the types of holidays they are choosing. There is a 20% rise in popularity of all-inclusives, which are a great way to keep a lid on budgets. The fad for posh camping can also translate into economic expediency and camping and caravanning specialists have also reported rising popularity.
For further information
Sean Tipton, Communications Officer, tel: 020 7307 1902/1900
Frances Tuke, Public Relations Manager, tel: 020 7307 1903/1900
David Marshall, Head of Policy and Communications, tel: 020 7307 1912
Mobile: 07894 073010
Out of Hours: Contact the Duty Press Officer via pager: 07659 190987
E-mail: press@abta.co.uk
Web: www.abta.com
Notes to editors
ABTA was founded in 1950 and currently has over 1,500 Members with 6,000 outlets. Members include travel agents, tour operators and support services right across the spectrum from small family-owned businesses to the largest tour operators.
ABTA is the largest travel association in the UK and its Members provide 90% of the foreign package holidays in the UK as well as selling millions of independent travel arrangements.
As part of its comprehensive package of services to Members, ABTA, as a non-party political organisation, also provides an effective voice to represent the interests of its Members to government and key opinion formers at the highest levels. In the UK, these include, government ministers, constituency MPs, Select Committee members, senior civil servants and members of the political opposition parties in both Westminster and the devolved administrations in Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland.
In Europe, ABTA is forming close ties with members of the European Parliament, the European Commission and staff within the Director Generals’ Secretariats. ABTA works in partnership with ECTAA (the European grouping of travel agents and tour operators’ associations) to lobby on interests relevant to its Members.
