Foreign travel for 2009 is very much on the radar for the majority who holiday overseas, with 83 percent - who have been on a recent overseas holiday are planning to take another one in the next 12 months, according to ABTA.

Published: 13 Oct 2008

Foreign travel for 2009 is very much on the radar for the majority who holiday overseas, with 83 percent - who have been on a recent overseas holiday are planning to take another one in the next 12 months, according to ABTA.

The ABTA Holiday Survey (conducted by Ipsos MORI in the first two weeks of September) has also found that because of the current economic situation 47 percent will not adjust their travel plans because of the economic situation. In addition 24 percent are still undecided.

Forty six percent of respondents said that the destinations they plan to go to and the type of holiday they choose will be unaffected by the money markets, while 50 percent state they will not be cutting back on the length of their holidays.

But while just under four in ten (39 percent) have said that they will not plan to reduce the number of holidays they take, a similar proportion (38 percent) have stated that they do think that they will take less holidays next year. This year, according to the survey, the numbers of those taking just one holiday abroad was 42 percent, while 30 percent took three or more holidays during the last 12 months.

Thirty five percent revealed that the current economic situation will affect the destination they go to. As the euro has been very strong against sterling this year, only 46 percent say that they are planning to holiday in Western Europe, as opposed to the 65 percent of travellers who have visited western Europe in 2008 and 69 percent who visited in 2007.