Record numbers of UK residents are heading abroad on holiday, according to official figures that signal the end of the “staycation” boom.
Just under 6 million people travelled overseas in April, the most ever for that month and up 8% on the same month a year before, said the Office for National Statistics. Spending by British tourists is also ballooning, with travellers splashing out £3.5bn in cash abroad during April, up 21% on the previous year. This figure also includes spending by people on business trips.
The figures are a dramatic turnaround from the post-financial crash period, when the numbers heading abroad on holiday and on business went into steep decline, and the popularity of staycations rose.
In 2008, British residents made 69m visits abroad, but this fell to just 56m in 2010-12 as wages fell and austerity struck.
In the key August school holiday period, the numbers of Brits heading to the sun peaked at 8.6m in 2008, then fell every August for four years, tumbling to 7.1m by 2012.
But airlines are expecting August this year to surpass the 2008 peak, following big rises month by month over the past year.
The ONS said: “In the 12 months to April 2016, the number of visits abroad by UK residents was 9% higher when compared with a year earlier; expenditure on these visits also increased, by 12%, during this period.”
Visits to North America are seeing the biggest increase. Over the year, the number of British travellers to North America was up by 12%, while Europe has enjoyed a 9% increase and other countries 6%.
In a sign of the underlying trends in the economy, business visits were up by 10% over the past year, exceeding the 8% growth in holiday travel.
Manchester airport said it handled 23.7 million passengers in the year to April, up 6% over the year, while Gatwick said it had its busiest ever April.
Transatlantic flights are the biggest boom area, said Gatwick, up 20% on the year, led by new airlines and routes serving Canada in particular.
Canadian airline WestJet has launched 28 weekly flights from Gatwick to Canada and will shortly be joined by a daily Air Canada Rouge service to Toronto.
Budget airline Norwegian has also expanded its low-cost transatlantic flights, offering £179 flights to Las Vegas from Gatwick, while its premium, business-style seats to Boston start at £399.
Meanwhile, the growth in travel by foreign visitors to the UK has been less sparkling. In the aftermath of the financial crash, visits to Britain fell less sharply than visits by the British abroad, but growth since then has been gradual.
The ONS said that in the three months to April 2016, there were 7.9 million visitors to the UK, up by 5% compared with the same period a year ago. But their spending fell by 2% to £4bn compared with the same period in 2015.
The widening gap between the numbers coming to the country on holiday and the number of UK residents heading abroad is bad news for Britain’s national accounts. The gap between what we spend abroad compared with what they spend here has grown from £13.7bn in 2012 to nearly £17bn in 2015, with the tourism deficit expected to return to the £20bn figure last seen in 2007-08.
