Two million heading away for Easter holidays
Tuesday, 31 Mar, 2010
0
More than two million holidaymakers are set to travel this Easter weekend, April 1-6.
Spain is the favourite country for people looking to escape the UK, with the Canary Islands – and Tenerife in particular – the most popular, according to ABTA.
Egypt has continued the strong growth seen in 2009 with Sharm El Sheik leading the way. Tunisia and Turkey have also sold well.
Families are flying to Florida to sample theme parks and the Dominican Republic for Caribbean sun.
Snow sports enthusiasts make Geneva the number one choice to access the Alpine resorts of Switzerland, France and Italy.
Paris, Amsterdam, Dublin, Milan and New York are the top five city break destinations.
London, Edinburgh and Manchester leading the way for UK city breaks. People are also travelling to the Channel Islands and cottages in Cornwall, East Anglia and the North of England.
ATA estimates 575,000 will leave from Heathrow, 250,000 from Gatwick, 175,000 from Stansted and 60,000 from Luton. A further 15,000 will depart from Southampton.
More than 155,000 will be leaving via Scottish airports with 58,000 from Glasgow, 75,000 from Edinburgh and 23,000 from Aberdeen.
From the north and the Midlands, 141,000 will leave from Manchester and 60,000 from Birmingham.
Other regional airports and ferry terminals will also be “extremely busy” over the weekend and Eurostar is reporting 85,000 leaving though the channel tunnel.
ABTA chairman John McEwan said: “Easter is the traditional curtain raiser to the summer and I am delighted to see that hundreds of thousands of our customers are taking the opportunity to take a well earned break both here in the UK and overseas.”
by Phil Davies
Phil Davies
Vegas’s Billion-Dollar Secrets – What They Don’t Want Tourists to Know
Visit Florida’s New CEO Bryan Griffin Shares His Vision for State Tourism with Graham
Chicago’s Tourism Renaissance: Graham Interviews Kristin Reynolds of Choose Chicago
Graham Talks with Cassandra McCauley of MMGY NextFactor About the Latest Industry Research
Destination International’s Andreas Weissenborn: Research, Advocacy, and Destination Impact
Graham and Don Welsh Discuss the Success of Destinations International’s Annual Conference
Graham and CEO Andre Kiwitz on Ventura Travel’s UK Move and Recruitment for the Role
Brett Laiken and Graham Discuss Florida’s Tourism Momentum and Global Appeal
Graham and Elliot Ferguson on Positioning DC as a Cultural and Inclusive Global Destination
Graham Talks to Fraser Last About His England-to-Ireland Trek for Mental Health Awareness
Kathy Nelson Tells Graham About the Honour of Hosting the World Cup and Kansas City’s Future
Graham McKenzie on Sir Richie Richardson’s Dual Passion for Golf and His Homeland, Antigua
ADS PRO 
Clearing CSS/JS assets' cache... Please wait until this notice disappears...
Updating... Please wait...
Qatar Airways offers flexible payment options for European travellers
Phocuswright reveals the world's largest travel markets in volume in 2025
Cyclone in Sri Lanka had limited effect on tourism in contrary to media reports
Skyscanner reveals major travel trends 2026 at ITB Asia
In Italy, the Meloni government congratulates itself for its tourism achievements