ABTA heralds great bank holiday getaway
ABTA estimates that 2.1 million Britons will travel abroad this bank holiday weekend.
With temperatures around the Mediterranean expected to hit the low 30s over the weekend, Spain remains a popular destination, and southern Spain, the Balearics and the Canary Islands in particular are all expecting large numbers of British holidaymakers.
Turkey and Greece are also very popular, according to ABTA members, with Crete expected to be a top choice.
Further afield, Florida and Morocco have also sold well.
Dublin, Amsterdam and Paris are the top short to mid-haul city break destinations for the bank holiday, while New York and Los Angeles are proving popular amongst long-haul travellers, it said.
The Norfolk Broads, the West Country and the Cotswolds are the most popular UK destinations.
Heathrow is expecting 243,000 people to fly out on Friday alone. Gatwick is expecting 304,000 holidaymakers to fly out over the entire weekend and 174,000 people will be departing from Stansted.
Some 55,000 holidaymakers are expected to fly out of Bristol Airport, 90,000 will depart from Edinburgh, 95,000 from Birmingham, 36,000 from East Midlands Airport and 210,000 from Manchester.
Ports and the Channel Tunnel are also expected to be busy over the weekend. Eurostar is anticipating more than 64,000 departures from the UK across the four days.
ABTA chief executive Mark Tanzer said: "This weekend is always one of the busiest of the year for travel, and marks the final week of the peak summer season. With roads and airports expected to be extremely busy this weekend, I would remind holidaymakers to make sure they leave plenty of time to get to their port of departure."
Linsey McNeill
Editor Linsey McNeill has been writing about travel for more than three decades. Bylines include The Times, Telegraph, Observer, Guardian and Which? plus the South China Morning Post. She also shares insider tips on thetraveljournalist.co.uk
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