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Summer bookings bounce back towards high of 2008


AS SUMMER DRAWS TOAN END, THEOUTBOUND MARKET IS CLOSER THAN EVER TOITS PRE-FINANCIAL CRISIS HIGH. IAN TAYLOR REPORTS


Summer 2015 could be the season that the outbound sector finally returned close to its historic levels following the post-2008 downturn.


The Office for National Statistics


(ONS) has yet to release departure figures for July and August, while data for the first six months of 2015 remains provisional, but all the signs are that this summer


88 travelweekly.co.uk 10 September 2015


has been the best since 2008. Latest ONS figures show an


11% year-on-year rise in holiday departures in the first six months of 2015 and a 10% increase from April to June. Departures for the 12 months to June were up 7%. The trend is well established. In


2014, the number of people taking an overseas holiday rose 4% to 38.5 million. The total was well up


on the low point of 2012, when 36.2 million took a holiday abroad, and on a par with 2009. But it was still 15.4% down


on 2008, when there were 45.5 million overseas holiday departures from the UK. The number of holidaymakers departing in July and August 2014 remained 12% down on 2008, representing almost 2.5 million fewer peak-summer holidays. This year, there is no reason to


think the 10% improvement from April to June has not continued


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