Numbers up for Christmas exodus
ABTA estimates that almost 4 million Britons will be heading overseas this Christmas and New Year period with the peak travel days predicted to be 21 and 22 December.
Ski resorts in France, Austria, Switzerland and Italy have all sold well with the week around the New Year, traditionally the busiest of the season.
Lapland and Northern Lights trips are also popular as are New Year’s Eve breaks in the cities of Paris, Rejkyavik, Rome, Dublin and New York.
Winter sun has one of the biggest draws with travellers heading to the Canary Islands, Tunisia, Cuba, Mexico and well as Australia, South Africa and New Zealand.
EasyJet has said it will be flying over 90,000 passengers, up by 10% on the same date last year across 1190 scheduled flights on its busiest day of the period on Friday 21 December 2012.
In the week preceding 25 December, easyJet will operate 4898 flights carrying over 730,000 passengers.
Edinburgh airport is expecting an 8% rise in passengers on Christmas weekend with over 104,000 passengers passing through Edinburgh Airport.
The top five destinations for its passengers are London, Amsterdam, Dublin, Bristol and Paris.
Mark Tanzer ABTA chief executive said: "Christmas and New Year is traditionally the busiest time of year for the travel industry with millions of people heading off overseas for some winter sunshine or guaranteed snow.
"With a White Christmas looking unlikely in the UK, thousands are heading off to the alpine resorts of Europe."
Diane
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