Families flock abroad to avoid freezing Easter weather

Freezing UK Easter weather conditions has led to floods of families flocking to warmer climes throughout April to make the most of the staggered school holidays, says leading online travel and leisure retailer lastminute.com.

As families froze in the UK’s almost artic weather conditions, lastminute.com experienced high levels of traffic and bookings over the expanded Easter weekend for departures over the next four weeks.

Traffic and bookings for the four days from Good Friday to Easter Monday were ahead of expectations, with the majority of bookings made by families to warm destinations over the Easter school holiday period - which lasts throughout April this year due to a number of state school returning today (Tuesday) after the Easter weekend before breaking up again on April 4.

Turkey and Greece are the most popular destinations for a late Easter sunshine break, with Bodrum and Antalya proving particular popular in Turkey while Kos, Corfu and Rhodes are Greece’s UK tourist hotspots.

Bookings for the two destinations were up 22% and 15% respectively on the same period last year and significantly up on the same period the previous week.

Other destinations experiencing an increase in late Easter bookings include Dubai, Egypt’s Red Sea resorts including Sharm-el Sheikh, Palma and Tenerife.

The cold weather appears to the catalyst for a number of families to make the most of the school Easter holidays, which fall earlier than in previous years making this the last chance for many families to get away before the summer holiday season.

With many Easter school breaks not starting until the end of next week, lastminute.com is expecting the flood of bookings for almost immediate departures to continue throughout this week and next.

lastminute.com UK Managing Director John Bevan said: “The unusually cold weather has led to incredible demand for late Easter sun holidays.

“lastminute.com’s traffic and bookings were exceptional over the Easter weekend, particularly for bookings throughout April when many schools are on a belated Easter break.

“With Easter falling earlier than normal this year, families have realised it could be their last chance for a break before the end of the school term."