17 July 2009

Holiday rush overseas gets underway

Up to 1.8 million holidaymakers will be heading overseas this weekend as the majority of English schools break up for the summer, ABTA calculates.

Traffic through the main airports will be busy with 415,000 leaving from Heathrow, 240,000 Gatwick, 140,000 Stansted, 150,000 Manchester, 65,000 Birmingham and 130,000 from the main Scottish airports.

Hundreds of thousands will also be travelling through regional airports and over or under the channel.

Spain is still the number one destination with the Balearic Islands selling well, despite the strength of the euro, ABTA says.

Turkey and Egypt have seen significant growth and the US has performed better than many of its competitors.

All inclusive holidays are proving especially popular with families looking to control budgets and avoid unfavourable exchange rates.

But capacity cuts made by the major tour operators has meant that there are less late deals available for the peak summer but flexible travellers can still find offers.

ABTA chief executive Mark Tanzer said: "This year many of us are choosing to book later than normal and if you haven’t made your mind up yet on where to go and are flexible in your choices there are still some great deals available."

by Phil Davies