4.5 Britons to travel abroad for Christmas and New Year

According to the latest figures, over 4.5 million people would be travelling from the UK during Christmas and New Year.

ABTA that is a travel association said that Friday is expected to be the busiest day during this festive season.

Some of the most popular short-haul locales for winter season comprise Fuertuventura, Lanzarote and Tenerife. On the other hand, flights to places like Goa, the Dominican Republic, Jamaica and Cape Verda have started witnessing a strong demand by the people who have been enjoying long haul sunshine breaks. For New Year’s Eve, regions including Amsterdam, New York, Barcelona and Dublin are some common destinations.

Airline travellers have been advised to leave some time to catch their flights.

A total of about 4.5 million people would be heading abroad in the period between 18^th December and 2^ndJanuary.

Previously, Heathrow had stated that it is expecting 1.2 million departing passengers from 16^th to 26^thDecember. Mark Tanzer, the chief executive of ABT said that Christmas and New Year are some of the busiest times for the travel sector since a large number of people prefer to travel overseas either to visit their relatives, friends or to indulge in a rejuvenating holiday.

Tanzer said that during this period, several roads as well as the public transport would be really busy.

Therefore, he added that passengers need to check the availability of transportation options in advance and ensure that they have extra time to reach the airport if it is required. Eurostar, a rail operator is prepared to welcome more than 3,68,000 passengers between 21^st December and 3^rd January.

30^th December would be the busiest day for travel.

This is because over 37,000 people would be travelling across the Channel the day prior to the New Year’ Eve.

Nick Mercer, the commercial director of Eurostar said that Christmas shoppers have been making a beeline for London and Paris over the last few weeks to soak in the ambiance and gorge on festive treats.

Many railway lines would also remain shut for a prolonged period since Network Rail is able to carry up to 200 improvement project worth £103 million. The passengers who would be travelling in Cardiff, Manchester and London would face the maximum impact.

A strike by the conductors of RMT is also believed to cause disruption on the network of Southern between 31^stJanuary and 2^nd January.