According to new data released last week, it has been estimated that five-million travellers will be expected to travel abroad over the holiday season in 2022 going into 2023, covering both the Christmas and New Years’ period.
Following the effects of the Covid pandemic over the past few years, the 2022-2023 holiday season is looking to be packed with travel abroad for many travellers and travel businesses as consumer demand for travel and destination restrictions have improved over the course of 2022 (destination restrictions, both Covid-related and otherwise, can be easily found and checked on the Foreign Travel Advice page where they are updated live).
According to the data found last week, Friday the 23rd of December is looking to be the busiest day for travellers to depart for their holiday season escapades, with Sunday the 25th of December coming in as the quietest day for departures as many travellers will already be on holiday for Christmas Day.
The data also reported trends from UK travel businesses including the top winter sun destinations this holiday season. The Canary Islands, southern Spain, Turkey, Portugal, Egypt, Jamaica, Barbados, Dominican Republic, Dubai, and Mexico have all come out on top as sunny destinations in demand this winter.
2022 and 2023 are also looking to have the strongest winter-sports season in three years following strict Covid pandemic restrictions through 2020 and 2021. France and Switzerland are coming in as the most popular for ski resorts, both of which were classic ski destinations pre-pandemic as well. Alongside the demand for French ski resorts, Paris has been reported one of the most popular city breaks abroad next to New York, Amsterdam, and Dublin.
Airports are getting busy and ready for the high travel demand this holiday season as well, as the data predicts a booming 640,000 passengers are set to depart from Stansted Airport, with 470,000 from Luton, 500,000 from Manchester, 175,000 from Bristol, and hundreds of thousands from Gatwick. To top it off, Heathrow Airport is expecting over three million passengers across arrivals and departures in the final two weeks of December alone.
Chris Woodroofe, the Managing Director of Manchester Airport, welcomed the high demand and gave some advice for expectant travellers. He said, “We are very much looking forward to welcoming the 1.7 million passengers who will travel through our airport over the festive period. This is a special time of the year for many, and we’re determined to make sure our guests get their Christmas off to the best possible start with a smooth and enjoyable journey through the airport.
“Being prepared is vitally important though, and we realise that, for some, this will be their first trip since before the pandemic. I’d encourage everyone flying out of Manchester over the Christmas period to check for road and rail disruption in advance of their journey to the airport, and to familiarise themselves with the current security rules.”
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