ABTA estimates two million British holidaymakers are set to head overseas over the Easter Bank Holiday weekend of April 14 ?17, with Good Friday the busiest day for travel.
Spain is the UK?s favourite foreign holiday destination for the weekend, with the Costa del Sol and the Canary and Balearic Islands the most popular regions. The Algarve in Portugal and Southern Turkey will also be busy, with holidaymakers set to enjoy 23C with good sunshine in both destinations.
Further afield, ABTA Members are reporting that Florida, Cuba, Cape Verde, Dominican Republic, Jamaica and Thailand have all sold well.
Foreign city breaks are popular at this time of the year. Paris, Rome, Barcelona and New York are among the top choices. Bookings for UK breaks are also healthy with many customers travelling to traditional seaside resorts, national parks and holiday camps.
Airports are reporting strong numbers with 425,000 leaving from Heathrow, 250,000 from Gatwick, 153,000 from Stansted, 87,000 from Luton. Regional airports will also be busy, with 150,000 leaving from Manchester, 70,000 from Birmingham, 50,000 from Bristol and more than 100,000 from the Scottish airports.
Mark Tanzer, chief executive for the travel association, said: ?Whilst many families may have already begun their Easter break, the Easter weekend is always a busy time of year for the travel industry with many holidaymakers taking advantage of the bank holidays to grab some much needed sunshine or a trip to one of the world?s great cities. The roads will be busy, so we would recommend leaving a little extra time to get to your port of departure and if using public transport, to check in advance for engineering works.?
