UK residents made 24.1 million visits abroad in July to September last year, a rise of 7.4% over the same quarter in 2015.
Despite the drop in value of the pound against the euro, visits to Europe saw the largest increase, of 8.6% to 20 million.
Visits to ‘other countries’ also increased, by 6.1%, but visits to North America fell by 5.8% year-on-year.
The latest ONS figures showed holiday visits accounted for 17 million of the total, a jump of 7.4%.
Visits to friends or relatives showed the largest increase, up 11.7% in this quarter, while miscellaneous visits increased by 5.6%.
But business visits fell 4.1% during this quarter.
UK residents spent 282.5 million nights abroad, an increase of 5.1%.
The fall in visits to North America is reflected in the decrease in nights spent there by UK residents, which decreased by 7.5%.
Meanwhile the number of nights spent in Europe saw an increase of 8.6% compared with 2015.
Spend figures showed UK residents spent £15.9 billion during visits abroad, 10.2% up.
Expenditure in Europe rose by 10% while spending in North America fell by 2%, reflecting the decrease in visits to this region.
