UK Holiday Spending to Rise

British travellers are expected to boost their holiday spending over the next five years, according to new figures.

The latest publication from research firm Market and Business Development (MBD) showed that UK spending on Holidays is set to culminate in a 15 per cent rise to ?28.4 billion by 2012. It is thought the year on year increase will be slower than it has been between 2003 and 2007 because of rising oil prices, higher tax on air travel and the olympic Games all on the horizon.

The research consultants speculated that these may encourage a proportion of UK residents to delay their holidays, according to Travel Weekly. Recent figures from the Office for National Statistics highlighted that overseas visits by UK residents increased by one per cent over the 12 months to July 2007.

In this period, more holidaymakers decided to visit North America, trips to Europe stayed broadly the same and visits to other parts of the world rose by nine per cent. The MDB researchers pointed out that a 20 per cent boost in spending between 2003 and 2006 was driven by travel to long-haul destinations including the Caribbean, South America and Australasia.