The great exodus has begun. This weekend two million British holidaymakers are departing the UK for their summer holidays. The number one destination is Spain, according to the Association of British Travel Agents (Abta), with Greece and Turkey also proving popular, and Florida remaining the top long-haul choice for families.
British airports face one of their busiest weekends of the year, with 450,000 passengers departing from Heathrow, 290,000 from Gatwick, 140,000 from Stansted and 79,000 from Luton. Over 100,000 will be leaving from Scottish airports with 50,000 from Glasgow, and 162,000 are due to depart from Manchester, 70,000 from Birmingham, 45,000 from Bristol and 37,000 from East Midlands airport.
Meanwhile the head of Britain’s biggest airport said the summer would not be disrupted by new security measures. Additional checks were brought in this month at Heathrow and airports across the UK after intelligence services warned that militant groups in the Middle East are targeting airlines with a new generation of explosive devices. Airline passengers must now ensure that their mobile phones are charged before boarding a flight, while some departures gates are carrying out extra bag searches.
Heathrow chief executive John Holland-Kaye said, “the security measures have not affected business, they are on a number of flights at the gate and we are managing that well.” Holland-Kaye added that the measures are not permanent but that he “cannot predict how long they’ll continue for or whether they will get heavier or lighter.”
Holland-Kaye also told CNN’s The Business View that the recent spate of airline disasters had had no impact on the number of passengers flying.
But while huge numbers may be escaping the UK for foreign shores over the coming weeks, the outlook for tourism within the UK is looking rosy too. High July temperatures have boosted domestic holiday bookings across the UK, with tour operators reporting strong demand and an increase in last-minute bookings.
Hoseasons – one of the biggest cottage and holiday park businesses in the country – has seen demand pick up with an 11% increase in bookings for the school holidays compared to 2013.
“We had our best day of the year in the call centre on Monday,” said Simon Altham, managing director of Hoseasons.
Prominent holiday park brand Parkdean, which operates 24 holiday parks across the UK, has also seen a rise in bookings, attributing the sudden spike to the warm weather.
John Waterworth, chief executive of Parkdean said: “In the last week alone, sales for peak breaks are up 30%, with very limited availability for those still looking for a last-minute getaway. This year we have seen 10% growth to date for total bookings. Let’s hope the good weather continues long into the school break.”
UK cottage company Holiday Lettings, which has over 45,000 holiday homes on its books, says bookings suggest holidaymakers are choosing more adventurous destinations over the classic hotspots of Cornwall, Devon and the Lake District. Its most popular summer destination this year is Jersey, with the Herbrides and Skye in second place.
A sense of adventure among UK holidaymakers is evident too in the host of new adventure attractions. In the past three months at least half a dozen high-profile adventure attractions have opened in the UK, including Bounce Below, a subterranean playground consisting of bouncy nets suspended inside a disused slate cavern in North Wales, Scotland’s first via ferrata climbing route and new zip wires in Cumbria and North Wales, which some are now describing as the “zip wire capital of the world.”
Last week, the Lake District claimed the UK’s first net adventure park, with the opening of Treetop Nets, a 1,500-square-metre playground that allows visitors to explore the forest canopy from nine metres high, and in August Bournemouth will add to the list with the opening of a 245m “pier to shore” zip wire.
Forest adventure company Go Ape has also expanded further this year, opening their 28th centre in Grizedale, Cumbria, at the start of July. According to co-founder Rebecca Mayhew, they have seen an increase of 12% in visitor numbers this year. “We will welcome over 700,000 visitors through our doors by the end of the season,” she says.
Peter Stacey, national director of the the British Activity Providers Association believes there is more confidence among parents to send their children on activity camps, or visit as a family. “A lot of activity centres I’ve visited, which previously just catered for school trips, are now full of families right through the summer holidays,” he says.
“Big attractions like Go Ape and Bounce Below got a lot of publicity and seem to be drawing in the numbers too.”
