Drop in Bank Holiday overseas trips?

Wednesday, 27 Aug, 2009 0

The number of Brits looking to take a trip overseas this bank holiday has fallen compared to the last two years.

According to VisitEngland’s August Bank Holiday Trip Tracker, which polled 1000 adults last week, 29% of Brits are planning to spend at least one night away from home over the August bank holiday.

Of these, 22% intend to go abroad, compared to 27% in 2008 and 33% in 2007.

But 70% are planning to take their trip in England, compared with 71% in 2008 and 65% in 2007.

This means 11.9 million Brits will take a trip in the UK over the bank holiday period.

However, ABTA estimates that 1.9 million people will leave the country during the Bank Holiday weekend with tomorrow (Friday) being the busiest day.

In the South East more than 420,000 will be leaving from Heathrow, an approximate 245,500 from Gatwick, 147,500 from Stansted and 72,500 from Luton.

Hundreds of thousands will leave through regional airportsincluding an approximate 143,000 from Manchester, 21,000 from Yorkshire’s international airport Leeds Bradford, approximately 37,500 from Newcastle,11,750 from Southampton, 70,000 from Birminghamand40,000 from Nottingham East Midlands.

A further 120,000 will be flying out from Edinburgh, Glasgow and Aberdeen.

Around 70,000 will use the Eurostar for trips to the continent – when the landmark 100 millionth passenger will travel through the tunnel on Friday.

A further 500,000 people will be heading abroad by ferry or Eurotunnel.

Beach destinations are most popular with the Mediterranean resorts in the Balearic Islands, mainland Spain, Turkey, Portugal and the Greek islands the favourites.

The US is also proving to be popular with Orlando, New York, and Los Angeles the top destinations, while European cities, Paris, Amsterdam and Dublin and lead the way.

UK beach resorts on the South Coast, Devon and Cornwall also promise to be busy despite patchy weather forecasts.

ABTA chairman John McEwan said: “Many families see the Bank Holiday as their last ditch attempt to get a holiday abroad to get some guaranteed sunshine.

“This is more true this year than ever. Obviously people have been holding onto their money until they are sure they have enough to go away with and as a result we have seen a surge in late bookings.”

By Bev Fearis and Phil Davies

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Bev

Editor in chief Bev Fearis has been a travel journalist for 25 years. She started her career at Travel Weekly, where she became deputy news editor, before joining Business Traveller as deputy editor and launching the magazine’s website. She has also written travel features, news and expert comment for the Guardian, Observer, Times, Telegraph, Boundless and other consumer titles and was named one of the top 50 UK travel journalists by the Press Gazette.

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