Spain still fastest growing destination for British package holidays

Spain continues to be the fastest growing package holiday destination for British holidaymakers, with 270,000 more set to arrive this summer compared to last year.

The destination’s growth is more than double that of Greece, which has also made significant gains this summer.

Figures for the UK market from Gfk Leisure Travel Monitor figures show Spain was up by 270,000 passengers year-on-year for summer 2017 (as of the week to 24 June), with Greece up by 95,600 passengers as the market rebounds from the problems associated with the Syrian refugee crisis two summers ago.

Other growing destinations include the Caribbean, Croatia, Cyprus and Portugal, while the Gfk data shows Canada, France, Malta, and the United Arab Emirates all down on last year.

Turkey still struggles

Turkey, the big loser in recent years due to terrorism fears, remains 70,000 passengers down on last year, while the US is suffering the second biggest decline of around 23,000 passengers as it struggles to overcome challenges like sterling’s slump against the dollar and the ‘Trump effect’. In the immediate aftermath of the election, bookings by British visitors dropped by 16 per cent.

Egypt has seen the third biggest decline, which is hardly surprising given that Sharm el Sheikh airport remains closed to UK airlines.

Year-on-year weekly analysis of all bookings monitored by GFK since the beginning of the year revealed nine weeks of consecutive growth in passenger numbers booking summer 2017 holidays.

• RCI has 111 resorts in mainland Spain and the Balearic Islands, with another 102 in the Canary Islands and 40 in Greece.