1.5 million to travel over August bank holiday
ABTA has estimated that 1.5 million Britains will be heading overseas this Bank Holiday weekend.
ABTA said approximately 850,000 people will leave through the seven BAA airports with over 700,000 flying from Heathrow, Gatwick and Stansted alone. Luton will see 80,000 jet off, while a further 300,000 will leave through the regional centres including Manchester (140,000), Birmingham(57,000) and East Midlands (33,000).
Although the weekend is not a bank holiday in Scotland, ABTA said it expects 105,000 Scots will endeavour to “swap bad weather for good by leaving the country”.
In addition, Eurostar expects to see 100,000 people travel to the continent, whilst a further 250,000 people will be heading for France either by ferry or Eurotunnel.
ABTA said bad weather in Britain this summer contributed to a surge in bookings last month, which outstripped last year’s July bookings by 3 per cent.
ABTA said as a result most holidaymakers will be heading to Mediterranean destinations such as Mallorca, the Canary Islands, mainland Spain and the Greek islands. Cyprus, Italy and Turkey also remain favourites, while short City breaks to Amsterdam, Paris and Rome are proving to be popular this year.
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