As the majority of English schools break up this Friday, this weekend is one of the busiest getaway weekends of the year.   ABTA estimates that two million of us will be heading overseas this weekend 22-25 July.

Traffic through the main airports will be very busy with 450,000 leaving from Heathrow, 250,000 from Gatwick, 135,000 from Stansted, 210,000 from Manchester, 65,000 from Birmingham, 26,000 from Leeds Bradford and 70,000 from Luton.  130,000 will leave from the main Scottish airports, Edinburgh, Glasgow and Aberdeen. In addition hundreds of thousands will be heading out through regional airports and over or under the channel.

More recently the pound has stabilised against the Euro and if you haven’t booked yet there is still availability on offer in our traditional Eurozone favourites which have seen an increase in UK visitor numbers after two tough years.

Spain is still UK holidaymakers’ number one destination with the Balearic and Canary Islands selling well in 2011. Turkey, Tunisia and Egypt are offering great value. All inclusive holidays are continuing to grow in popularity as holidaymakers look to control budgets and avoid exchange rate concerns.  

Mark Tanzer, ABTA Chief Executive said: “This weekend is one the busiest of the year as families head off overseas for a well earned summer break. This year traditional favourites in the Eurozone like Spain and Portugal have bounced back after two tough years, with customers taking advantage of some of the lowest day to day expenses overseas.”