Balearics is top UK destination for Easter

With the weather in the UK looking to be mixed, those heading off overseas will benefit from sunshine and temperatures in the early twenties in our favourite holiday spots. ABTA members are reporting strong bookings for mainland Spain, the Balearic and Canary Islands, Greece, Turkey and, for long-haul travellers, Thailand.

Many more are taking advantage of the four-day weekend to spend time on a cultural and fun city break with Dublin, Istanbul, Amsterdam, Budapest, Rome, Paris and Dubai leading the way. Airports in the South East are reporting strong numbers with hundreds of thousands leaving from Heathrow and Gatwick, 187,000 from Stansted and 105,000 from Luton.

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Other airports will also be busy, with 160,000 leaving from Manchester, Birmingham expecting its busiest ever Easter period and thousands departing from the Scottish airports. Ferry terminals and the Channel Tunnel will also be extremely busy with thousands also booked to travel by Eurostar this weekend.

Mark Tanzer ABTA Chief Executive said: “Easter is always one of the busiest times of year for the travel industry with millions taking advantage of the long weekend to take an overseas beach or city break. Over the past few months, ABTA members will have been working hard to help travellers secure the ideal Easter break.

“As always the roads and public transport will be very busy, so always check for any planned engineering works and leave plenty of time to get to your departure port.” Aviation analytics firm Cirium said a total of 11,282 flights are scheduled to depart UK airports over the Easter weekend, equating to more than two million seats, with the figure up 6% compared with last year.