13 Apr
2017

The Great Easter Bank Holiday Getaway 2017

Two million holidaymakers to head overseas

ABTA – The Travel Association estimates two million British holidaymakers are set to head overseas over the Easter Bank Holiday weekend of 14 April – 17 April with Good Friday the busiest day for travel. Spain is the UK’s favourite foreign holiday destination for the weekend, with the Costa del Sol and the Canary and Balearic Islands the most popular regions.

Daytime temperatures this weekend are set to reach 27C in Malaga, 23C in Mallorca and 24C in Tenerife. The Algarve in Portugal and Southern Turkey will also be busy, with holidaymakers enjoying 23C with good sunshine in both destinations. Further afield, ABTA Members are reporting that Florida, Cuba, Cape Verde, Dominican Republic, Jamaica and Thailand have all sold well. 

Foreign city breaks are popular at this time of the year with the weather typically being pleasant for strolling, window-shopping and cultural activities. Paris, Rome, Barcelona and New York are among the top choices. Winter sports lovers will be making the most of the late season snow by heading to high altitude resorts.

Bookings for UK breaks are also healthy with many customers travelling to traditional seaside resorts, national parks and holiday camps.

Airports are reporting strong numbers with 425,000 leaving from Heathrow, 250,000 from Gatwick, 153,000 from Stansted, 87,000 from Luton.  

Regional airports will be busy, with 150,000 leaving from Manchester, 70,000 from Birmingham, 50,000 from Bristol and over 100,000 from the Scottish airports.

Other regional airports, ferry terminals and the Channel Tunnel will also be extremely busy over the weekend and Eurostar is reporting that 82,000 will be departing the UK with Paris the most popular destination.

Mark Tanzer ABTA Chief Executive said: “Whilst many families may have already begun their Easter break, the Easter weekend is always a busy time of year for the travel industry with many holidaymakers taking advantage of the bank holidays to grab some much needed sunshine or a trip to one of the world’s great cities. The roads will be busy, so we would recommend leaving a little extra time to get to your port of departure and if using public transport, to check in advance for engineering works.”