Build-up to Christmas breaks 'starts a year in advance'

Holidaymakers tend to book Christmas trips up to 12 months in advance, a spokesperson for the Association of British Travel Agents (ABTA) has said.

With the festive season becoming an increasingly popular time to get away from the UK, Christmas is the next major holiday after the summer when parents can expect children at school and university to be available for family holidays.

"People do tend to plan ahead because it's so busy and it's such a short period of time", the ABTA spokesperson explained, adding that every year early bookings for Christmas getaways tend to exceed those of the year before.

According to the Office of National Statistics, UK residents took two per cent more visits over the 12-month period to June 2007 compared to the preceding year, totting up 69.5 million holidays overall.

But while European trips dropped slightly as a percentage of these breaks, holidays to destinations outside of Europe and the US soared by nine per cent in popularity.

In related news, Stansted Airport, whose most popular passenger destination is Spain, last week reported that it handled 23.7 million passengers over the past year and hopes to increase its future capacity to meet growing year-round demand.