More than two million British holidaymakers are expected to head overseas on summer holidays this weekend as the majority of schools break up for summer.
Nearly half a million (450,000) will fly out of Heathrow while 295,000 are set to go from Gatwick; 140,000 from Stansted and 79,000 from Luton.
That’s in addition to 162,000 from Manchester, 70,000 from Birmingham, 45,000 from Bristol and 37,000 from East Midlands Airport while higher still 100,000 will depart from Scottish airports.
Spain remains the favourite holiday destination particularly the Canary and Balearic Islands, while ABTA said its members have also seen good sales for Greece, Turkey, Dubai and Mexico.
High temperatures in the UK have also helped domestic bookings.
Mark Tanzer, ABTA’s chief executive said: “While a favourable exchange rate in many destinations will increase the appeal of overseas holidays, we also expect the warm summer weather we’ve recently experienced to make the UK popular for late bookers.”
