Industry prepares for Christmas getaway
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Airports are preparing for the Christmas getaway from tomorrow, with four million Brits expected to head overseas during the next two weeks.
Heavy snowfall in Europe’s ski resorts is seeing many flock to the mountains while popular sun destinations include the Canary Islands, Tunisia, Cuba and Mexico, according to ABTA.
Dubai and Australia are also thought to be popular amongst holidaymakers, plus weekend breaks to Paris, Amsterdam, Rome and Dublin.
At Heathrow and Gatwick the London Ambassadors from the Olympics Games will return to help guests during the busy period. Heathrow expects tomorrow (21 December) to be its busiest day with 105,000 passengers departing.
Gatwick anticipates Sunday (23 Dec) as its busiest day with 56,000 due to fly out, from the 700,000 across the whole period from 17 December-2 January.
Meanwhile Edinburgh is expecting 104,000 passengers to pass through this weekend, up 8% on last year.
On the ground Virgin Trains has warned its trains are close to full over the Christmas period and has encouraged passengers to book as soon as possible. Strikes on rail services to and from Scotland and London have been called off although some limited services will run on other routes due to industrial action or improvement works.
Virgin Trains said Saturday has more than 45,000 seats resolved with today and tomorrow also busy. Around 210,000 Advance tickets for the Christmas period have also been sold.
While many train travellers will be heading home on the trains, up VisitEngland has said around 12 million Brits are planning a domestic break over the festive break with 9.8 million to take the break in England. Its survey found 45% plan to visit the sales and 30% will head to a Christmas market.