The number of package holidays taken by UK residents increased in 2007 to 19 million, a rise of about half a per cent on 2006, according to figures from the Office of National Statistics.
The Office of National Statistics report found the total number of UK residents’ visits abroad, including package holiday, non-package holidays, trips to families and business travel, grew by 2% during the 12 months ending in February 2008 compared with a year earlier to reach 71.6 million.
The total number of UK residents’ visits overseas, not seasonally adjusted, increased by 2% to 71.6 million during the 12 months ending in February 2008 compared with a year earlier. The highest growth came from outside North America and Europe, which grew annually at 6% to 10.5 million.
Although the increase number of visits abroad was slight, growth in spending was more marked. Spending by UK residents overseas increased by 6 per cent to £36.8bn in 2007 compared with the previous year, the ONS found.
The same research shows that during the 12 months to February 2008, the number of visits by overseas residents to the UK increased by 3% from 33.1 million to 33.9 million.
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