Record numbers to head overseas this weekend
ABTA estimates that a record 2.5 million British holidaymakers will head overseas this weekend, which for the majority of schools in England and Wales marks the start of the summer break.
Spain remains the most popular destination for families but ABTA members are also reporting strong growth to Turkey, Egypt, Greece, Bulgaria and Croatia.
European cities leading the way for short-breaks are Barcelona, Paris, Rome and Amsterdam.
Domestic bookings are healthy, with travel agents and tour operators reporting demand to the southwest of England and seaside resorts in particular, said ABTA.
Airports in the southeast are expecting a very busy weekend with over 500,000 passengers expected to depart from Heathrow, 250,000 from Gatwick, 148,000 from Stansted, 88,000 from Luton and 7,600 from Southend.
A total of 160,000 are due to depart from Manchester airport and 67,500 from Birmingham.
Although the Scottish schools are well into their summer holidays, close to 200,000 will still be leaving from Scottish airports with 104,000 from Glasgow and 70,000 from Edinburgh.
Other regional airports, ports and the channel tunnel will also be extremely busy over the weekend with hundreds of thousands leaving the country.
ABTA chief executive Mark Tanzer said: "The roads in the UK will very busy and families should leave a little extra time to get to their departure ports and check for engineering work if using public transport."
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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