A fall of one million in the number of overseas trips by UK residents in the three months to June may signal a growing desire to stay at home when the weather is warm enough.
The decline, compared with 2006, was revealed by the Office of National Statistics this week.
The number of overseas visits fell from 17.8 million in April-June 2006 to 16.8 million in the same period this year and was also down on the 17.5 million who travelled abroad in January-March 2007.
Industry figures attributed the downturn to a combination of the unusually hot weather in April, early Easter departures at the end of March, and reduced capacity in the market.
Peter Goord Travel owner Anthony Goord said: “The good weather in April killed sales.”
Somewhere2stay.com managing director Stuart Jackson added: “There was a strong ski and long-haul market at the start of the year and then capacity came out for April to June.”
The TUI group, owner of Thomson, reported a 9.4% decline in turnover at its northern Europe division, which includes the UK, during the second quarter of the year.