Laurence Dollimore
THE amount of British holidaymakers travelling to Spain has almost doubled over the last 20 years.
According to figures released by the Office for National Statistics today, Spain is the top UK holiday destination, with 12.9 Britons visiting last year, up from 6.9 million in 1996.
The figures also showed holidaymakers are rejecting Egypt, Tunisia and Kenya amid fears of future terrorist attacks.
France has also seen its figures over the past 20 years drop from six million to 5.6 million last year.
The ONS said the explosion in budget airlines offering cheap flights all over Europe could have also contributed to France’s downturn in popularity.
Belgium and Turkey, which have seen devastating terror attacks, have both dropped out of the top ten.
The series of statistics put out by the ONS also showed that the traditional two-week holiday is in decline as Brits are more likely to opt for shorter breaks.
Croatia has seen the number of trips soar from just 12,600 in 1996 to 394,000 in 2016.
The UAE has seen the largest increase in the number of trips by British tourists in the past two decades.
In 1996 fewer than 30,000 trips were made, but this boomed to 565,000 last year.
