Bank holiday bonanza predicted for UK home breaks

This Bank Holiday weekend will see 11.9 million Britons taking a trip within the UK, according to VisitEngland’s August Bank Holiday Trip Tracker.

The UK will get the lion’s share of holiday-makers, with four in five of taking a break in Great Britain compared to only one in five going overseas, according to the survey conducted by TNS TripTracker of 1,012 people conducted between 21-23 August.

England will welcome the lion’s share of the population with 20% (9.9 million) taking a domestic trip.

VisitEngland said that results over the last three years suggest an increasing preference for breaks closer to home, with the share of overseas trips on this particular bank holiday weekend falling by 10% since 2007.

James Berresford, chief executive of VisitEngland said he was delighted to see that the numbers so far this year were stacking up well.

He said: “All of our research so far this year and anecdotal evidence from the industry confirm that Britons are indeed rediscovering the joys of holidaying at home in 2009.

“We are confident that once people are reminded of what England has to offer, be it a culture-vulture break to one of our great cities; a visit to a seaside resort; or a relaxing rural escape – they will realise England has got everything that overseas breaks can offer and more.”

Within the survey of people polled, 24% said they would take a holiday within the UK this weekend. This is taken to represent 11.9 million people, which is 24% of the British adult population of 49,466,000 (Office for National Statistics).

Full results can be found here >>

More than half of Brits plan UK holidays for 2010 >>

‘Staycation’ holidays in the UK up by 13% >>

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By Gemma Sharkey

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