ABTA – The Travel Association estimates that over two million British holidaymakers are set to head overseas for summer holidays this weekend (21-24 July), which for the majority of schools in England and Wales marks the start of the summer break, with 22 July expected to be the busiest day of the weekend.

Spain remains the number one destination for families in particular the Costa del Sol, the Balearic and Canary Islands but ABTA members are also reporting strong demand for Bulgaria, Portugal, Turkey, Morocco and Greece.

Airports in the south east are expecting a very busy weekend with hundreds of thousands of passengers expected to depart from Heathrow and Gatwick, 199,000 from Stansted and 116,000 from Luton.
 
200,000 are due to depart from Manchester airport, 71,000 from Bristol and although the Scottish schools are well into their summer holidays, many will still be leaving from Scottish airports this weekend with over 100,000 from Glasgow alone. 

Other regional airports, ports and the channel tunnel will also be extremely busy over the weekend.

Mark Tanzer, ABTA Chief Executive, said:
 
“Thousands of families will be jetting off this weekend as the majority of schools in the UK start their summer break. Many of these will be taking their first overseas summer holiday since the pandemic, returning to much-loved destinations and will have a fantastic experience in store.
 
“We’re encouraging people to have a fun and safe holiday; by taking sensible precautions if you’re heading to an area with exceptionally high temperatures. And taking particular care when in the water and on balconies. We have advice available to travellers at abta.com to help you have a safe trip.”

ABTA’s health and safety advice for holidaymakers can be found at www.abta.com/tips-and-advice/staying-safe-on-holiday