ABTA estimates over two million British holidaymakers set to head overseas

ABTA – The Travel Association estimates that over two million British holidaymakers are set to head overseas during the August Bank Holiday (22-25 August).

Spain is a popular destination for British holidaymakers with long and short breaks to Mallorca, Ibiza and The Canaries selling particularly well. Holidaymakers looking for an end of summer break are also heading to Greece, Turkey and Tunisia or to long haul destinations including Florida in the USA and Cancun, Mexico. City breaks are also popular for the long weekend with Barcelona, Amsterdam and Paris all hotly tipped.

Following warm weather during July, domestic holidays are proving popular with ABTA Members reporting strong sales to traditional beach resorts and the Channel Islands for the bank holiday weekend. UK city breaks are another top pick for the weekend and lots of visitors will be heading to Edinburgh for the festival or enjoying events in London such as the Notting Hill Carnival.

Airports in the South East are expecting a very busy weekend with 500,000* passengers expected to depart from Heathrow, 274,000 from Gatwick, 134,000 from Stansted and 78,000 from Luton.

172,000 are due to depart from Manchester, 72,000 from Birmingham, 47,000 from Bristol, 42,000 from East Midlands, 30,000 from Leeds Bradford International and 7,000 from Bournemouth. Over 150,000 will also be leaving from Scottish airports.

Hundreds of thousands will also be leaving the country from other regional airports, ports and the channel tunnel. Eurostar will be extremely busy with Brits set to enjoy a late summer break in France.

Mark Tanzer, ABTA Chief Executive said: “This weekend is set to be one of the busiest of the year as we see lots of holidaymakers heading off for the bank holiday weekend. Whilst a holiday budget will go further abroad this year thanks to a strong pound, we are also expecting lots of people to enjoy the long weekend at home.”