Four-fifths of families will go abroad on holiday this year, an online trade magazine has claimed.
In a Travel Weekly-commissioned survey of 500 people, 82% said they are either very likely or quite likely to have an overseas holiday, which may mean travelling from one of the UK’s major airports such as Stansted or Heathrow.

The respondents had all been overseas in the last five years.
The most likely groups to go abroad are those aged 18-34 and over 55, and the least likely are those aged 35-54, the survey by Explore Research suggests.
Unsurprisingly, the cost of travelling is the deciding factor for the majority (55%), while two-fifths (42%) say the destination is the biggest consideration. One in three are guided by the weather of a particular place and a quarter prioritise good accommodation, the survey suggests.

In terms of age, the type and quality of digs drives the decision for most over-55s, while cost, family-friendly facilities and safety of children most concerned the under-35s.
Around one in five holiday with family or friends (18%) and the same proportion holiday with one or two children, while around one in six go away with extended family (16%).
Explore Research’s Katie Brown said: “More than one-third of people will book with larger groups, either with friends or other families or extended family.
“This presents operators with the challenge of providing family-friendly and child-safe facilities, with quality accommodation to keep the older family members happy.”

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Close to four million Britons will travel overseas during the holidays, leaving those who opt to stay home coping with more of a wet Christmas than a white one.

A good number of travellers going abroad plan to make the best of this year’s abundant snowfall on ski slopes.
People looking for sunshine in the winter are heading to the Canary Islands, Cuba, Mexico and Tunisia.

Meanwhile, back in the UK, there is an expectation that roads will be jammed on Friday, even though roadworks on several important routes have been finished or will be stopped during the holidays.
Weather reports are predicting widespread and heavy rainfall for most of the coming days, while temperatures will be much higher than normal, reaching up to 14C (57F) on Sunday in southern England.

On Friday Heathrow is anticipating its peak holiday travel day, as 123,000 travellers are due to take off from the airport in west London.
An additional 114,000 passengers are expected to depart on Sunday and 88,000 will be taking off on Christmas Eve.

Between Friday and January 3, Gatwick airport is expecting to handle a total of 700,000 departures, while Manchester will see 320,000 depart, Stansted another 300,000, Luton will see 125,000, Birmingham will handle 116,000 and Glasgow will see 75,000 departures.

Abta travel group reported that the favourite international destinations for new year celebrations were Paris, Reykjavik, Rome, Dublin and New York.

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Nine iconic Egyptian hotels visited by the likes of Sir Winston Churchill and Princess Diana are to undergo a £31.3 million refurbishment next year.

All nine are owned by the Egyptian government, which has vowed never to sell them off and instead launched plans to renovate them under the ‘Historic Hotels of Egypt’ banner.
The hotels have been selected for their architectural or historical significance, or because famous guests have slept within their walls.

From 2013, visitors will be able to fly out from Heathrow or Gatwick and stay in beautiful hotels like the Cairo Marriott Hotel, Mena House Oberoi and Nile Ritz Carlton Cairo, which recall Egypt’s heyday
The nine historic hotels of Egypt are owned by the Egyptian General Company for Tourism and Hotels (EGOTH), a subsidiary of the state-owned Holding Company for Tourism, Hotels and Cinema (HOTAC).
The Egyptian government intends to closely manage the historic assets so that the hotels can compete with Egypt’s growing private hotel sector.

EGOTH chairman Essam Abdel Hady said: “This is an important time for the Egyptian hotel industry.” He added: “These historic buildings have now been protected by the government and will never be sold to outside investors. “As part of this commitment, these properties will continue to undergo total renovation to bring them back to their former glory whilst conserving their original features.

World tourists will make more than one billion trips this year for the first time ever, research suggests.

According to a World Travel Market (WTM) survey, UK airports including Luton and Stansted will be particularly busy as Brits are set to make a significant contribution to the overall total by going on an increased number of trips during 2012.

Of the 1,000 UK adults who were polled, 52% revealed they had taken more than one holiday this year. This was proportion was significantly higher compared with 24% in 2010 and 41% in 2011.
In 2012, a total of 13% of UK travellers took three holidays while 34% took two holidays, compared with 10% and 28% respectively last year.

Meanwhile, a fortunate 5% went on four or more holidays in 2012, in comparison to 4% in 2011.

The survey findings also showed that 49% support the idea of baby-free planes, while 76% think charging overweight people to sit in larger seats on aircraft is a good idea.
In addition, 88% said they are against any plan to charge air passengers for hand luggage and 60% think the Olympics will have a positive impact on London tourism.
However, only 50% believe the Games will benefit UK tourism as a whole.

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Lonely Planet has confirmed that it is giving Sri Lanka the accolade of its number one destination in the world to travel to in 2013.

The travel guidebook publisher gave the Indian Ocean island the title of the hottest destination for next year after taking into account the unbiased views of staff and writers and the opinions of those in the travel community.

The country is seen as an emerging hotspot and visitors are advised to explore the newly opened up east coast as well as the famous pristine sandy beaches in the west and the south.
“North of the capital Colombo, on Sri Lanka’s west coast, Kalpitiya and the Puttalam lagoon are eco-tourism hotspots with bird watching and kayaking,” the guidebook states.
“The gloriously arching beaches of the nation’s east coast are now challenging traditional southern favourites. Arugam Bay’s sandy crescent is one of Asia’s best surf spots and further north, Uppuveli and Nilaveli near Trincomalee stretch for several pristine kilometres.”
Lonely Planet also recommends the colonial town of Galle, which has been recognised by Unesco, and points visitors towards the “glorious labyrinth” of the 17th century Dutch fort there.
Flights to Sri Lanka’s capital, Colombo, are available from London Heathrow and Gatwick and connections can also be made from other major Asian destinations like Bangkok as part of a bigger trip.

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The AeroMexico airline says it intends to work closely with the trade in the UK as it prepares to start flying between London and Mexico City.

AeroMexico, which is a member of SkyTeam, is due to begin operating flights between the UK capital and the Mexican capital three times per week from December 15. The flights will leave Heathrow on Monday, Thursday and Saturday and the firm’s manager in the UK, Elias Vivas, said it would not be paying commission but would offer “competitive” nett rates and is looking forward to working with UK trade.

“We are a premium carrier, we have successfully introduced routes to places like Shanghai on the strength of our corporate traffic,” he said. “We are counting on the support of the UK trade, we will work out incentive programmes for a number of key accounts.”

The flights will leave Heathrow at 17.25 and land in Mexico at 00.35 the following day, with the return flight departing Mexico City at 22.20 and arriving back in London at 15.00. The service will rival British Airways, which has had a monopoly until now.

The route is predominantly aimed at business and ex pat traffic, with tourism to the country generally entering via Cancun, and AeroMexico will offer business and economy cabins in a Boeing 767 before upgrading to a 787 Dreamliner in June 2013.

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More travellers may now be attracted to India after the country’s top court lifted a ban on tourism in tiger reserves nationwide.

The Supreme Court had put a blanket ban in place for such tourism in July while the government drew up new guidelines, but new rules have now been produced to help tourism and conservation to co-exist.

The regulations dictate that no new tourist facilities can be opened in the tiger areas and just 20% of tiger habitats can be made available to visitors, while local governments have also been asked to regulate visitor numbers.

Over half of the world’s estimated 3,200 tigers can be found in India, with most living in wildlife reserves that have been established since the 1970s, and there are a plethora of hotels and shops inside the reserves catering to wildlife-watching tourists. The ban was imposed after a conservationist called for critical tiger habitats to be kept safe from all forms of human disturbances, but tour and travel operators argued that illegal wildlife trafficking would increase as the presence of tourists deters poachers. Tigers can be found all over India and the news that the ban has been lifted could spark a rise in visitor numbers from the UK, with flights leaving for Mumbai and Delhi from the likes of London Heathrow, Gatwick and Stansted.

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New figures have indicated that, despite the financial problems in the UK, young people went on more holidays last year than in 2010.

People between the ages of 25 and 34 in the UK went on an average of four-and-a-half vacations in 2011, compared with just four the year before. And 15 to 25-year-olds went on as many as five holidays on average last year compared with only four in 2010. The research, which was carried out by the Association of British Travel Agents (ABTA), also shows that people are going away for shorter periods of time. ABTA chief executive Mark Tanzer says travel firms should take note of the findings.

“The research suggests they like to go away frequently and for shorter amounts of time than older age groups, which represents a great opportunity for travel companies to tap into this trend,” he said.
In contrast, the chief executive of the Association of Leading Visitor Attractions, Bernard Donoghue, has revealed that some attractions in London saw as much as a 61% year-on-year drop in visitor numbers in the first two weeks of the Olympics.

But, although the figures for the UK capital’s main attractions may have suffered, young people seem keener than ever to head off on holiday, and with airports like Heathrow, Gatwick and Stansted close to London there are a host of destinations available to them.

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One of the most biggest cultural festivals in India, held in the city of Pune, is about to attract international guests and visitors for a nine-night extravaganza of colour and music.

The Navaratra Mahotsav festival, which features a strong Bollywood theme, will open in Pune’s largest open-air stadium, the Ganesh Kala Krida Rangmanch.
One of the most anticipated events on the programme is an epic, 12-hour performance of Lavani, a traditional Indian art form combining percussion, song and dance in a celebration of passion and romance.

Music from Hindi Bollywood films will include ever-popular readings of Ghazals – a form of sung love poetry which has roots in the 6th century and expresses unattainable desire, as well as a performance of Asha Bhosale songs, which are featured in hundreds of Bollywood films. There will also be a production of the famous Marathi play, ‘Pati Sagale Uchapati’, the inspiration for the popular Bollywood comedy ‘All the Best:Fun Begins’.

Further highlights include ‘Music India’, a special concert to celebrate a century of Indian music, and performances from renowned Indian folk singer Hridaynath Mangeshkar and rising star Radha Mangeshkar. The nine-day festival is set to welcome visitors from October 16, 2012. Pune is easily reached from Mumbai, with a variety of flights leaving from London Stansted.

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UK travellers are far more able to spot famous landmarks abroad than those in their home country, a survey suggests.

Every participant in travel agency sunshine’s survey managed to recognise the Eiffel Tower in Paris, but just 77% spotted that a UK landmark was in fact Stonehenge.
Indeed, Sydney Opera House and San Francisco’s Golden Gate Bridge proved to be far more famous among Brits travelling from London Airports such as Gatwick, Heathrow, Stansted and Luton than Trafalgar Square and the London Eye.

This is despite the fact that UK tourists live in the country, and many may have even travelled past such landmarks on the bus to the airport.
There were 1,714 British travellers who took part in the survey, 98% of whom recognised the pyramids in Egypt, while 96% picked out the Statue of Liberty in New York and 95% were able to name the Great Wall of China.

While Big Ben was recognised by 93% of UK holidaymakers, neither Trafalgar Square nor the London Eye were in the top 10 of the most recognisable landmarks.

Sunshine co-founder, Chris Clarkson, said: “I actually can’t quite believe that more UK-based landmarks didn’t feature in the top 10 here. “To see that more people recognised the Golden Gate Bridge above the likes of the London Eye and Trafalgar Square is a bit of an eye opener.”

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