The Office for National Statistics’ Overseas Travel and Tourism report revealed that more than 14.1 million UK residents visited abroad, during the first quarter of 2017.
The number of nights spent abroad by UK residents also rose by 9.1% to a total of 147 million nights and spending increased by 11.7% to £8.6 billion over the same period.
The report added that visits to countries outside of Europe and North America have seen the largest increase of 12.4% to 2.9 million, while visits to Europe rose by 7.8%. But visits to North America fell by 4.1% when compared with the first three months of 2016.
The ONS figures revealed that taking a holiday continues to be the most common reason for UK residents to travel abroad, with a total of 7.6 million overseas holidays taken in the first quarter - an increase of 5.6% compared with the same quarter in 2016.
Visits to friends or relatives (VFR) and “miscellaneous” visits both increased by 13.4% in the quarter, while business trips increased by 6% year-on-year.
The report comes as industry figures told TTG earlier this week that the lates market had been "slow to take off”, with airlines set to take the hit from overcapacity, meaning that lower flight prices would feature in a lates market hampered by weak consumer confidence and higher accommodation costs.
Neil Barnett, chief executive of Elite Travel Group, said: “The early bookings flooded in but since May it has been more patchy. Even long-haul in May, June and July has been slow.”
However, in contrast, Southall Travel sales director Jaymin Borkhatria said long-haul sales had been buoyant.
Borkhatria said: “When compared to short-haul, it’s excellent value for money."
