Royal Wedding: Savvy holiday makers take advantage of 11-day Easter break

Add to My Stories An unprecedented string of bank holidays means the tourism industry will be the real winner over the next two weeks.ABTA, The Travel Association estimates two million British holidaymakers are set to head off overseas around the Easter break of April 21-25.And by taking just three days leave, workers can enjoy an eleven-day break, starting this Friday.

Millions of holiday makers are thought to be planning a long Easter breakLow-cost airline easyJet yesterday described the next two weeks as a once-in-a-lifetime bank holiday extravaganza.And millions are thought to be planning the ultimate free holiday thanks to a late Easter break, swiftly followed by the Royal Wedding and the May Bank Holiday.

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Spain is still the UKs favourite foreign holiday destination, with the Canary Islands and the Costa del Sol the most popular areas.As for cities, Paris, Dublin, Amsterdam. Rome and New York are the top five choices. London is the most popular for UK breaks with thousands heading to the capital to join in with the Royal Wedding celebrations.Edinburgh and Manchester are also strong for city breaks, and with forecasters predicting fine weather for the Easter weekend, bookings are good for cottages in Cornwall, East Anglia and the North of England.

Jetting away: Companies such as EasyJet are hoping to cash in on the long break The seaside resorts of Blackpool, Bournemouth and Brighton are also looking at a bumper period, and ABTA members are reporting very strong bookings for ! the Chan nel Islands and the Isles of Man and Wight.The main UK airports are reporting high numbers of bookings, and regional airports and ferry terminals will also be extremely busy over the weekend.Eurostar is anticipating a large number of travellers both in and out of the UK this weekend and the next.
ABTA chairman John McEwan says: 'Easter is the traditional curtain raiser to the summer, and the Royal Wedding bank holiday has given a special boost to bookings.'I am delighted to see that so many of our customers are taking advantage of the extra days off, either heading off overseas or taking a break closer to home.'

The AA estimates that 10 million will escape by car over the Easter weekend to a UK destination and a further eight million over the weddingweekend.Around one in seven workers is expected to take holidays between Easter and the royal wedding, according to statistics compiled by RSM Tenon, while around one in eight will travel abroad during the period.