The Great Parliamentary Summer Getaway

“Half Going Abroad with half holidaying at home”

2012-08-01 — /travelprnews.com/ — The third ABTA annual MP Holiday survey reveals today that all of the MPs and Peers who responded will be taking a summer holiday this year with half joining the Prime Minister and his Deputy in going overseas.  David Cameron and Nick Clegg will be holidaying on the continent and the members of the House of Lords will also be doing their best to help the Eurozone’s economic problems with over half [53%] heading to Europe.

The ABTA annual Holiday report is intended as a brief snapshot of the holiday habits of our political representatives which gives an interesting insight into how often and where they choose to take a break. This year it found a straight 50-50 split for Parliamentarians between the UK and overseas. MPs seem particularly keen on holidaying at home with six out of ten doing so; Scotland and the North and South West of England are their favourite destinations.

Our political representatives are clearly a hard working bunch, with six out of ten taking only one or two holidays a year, under the national average of three breaks.  However, the House of Lords are more likely to take a break than the House of Commons with almost half of MPs taking only one holiday a year and almost all Peers taking at least two holidays a year and a very lucky one in three, four or more.

Stephen D’Alfonso ABTA Senior Public Affairs and Research Manager said: “MPs and Peers clearly love going on holiday as much as the rest of us whether it’s here in the UK or overseas and all of those who responded to our survey said that they’re taking a holiday this summer and It’s interesting to see that they are split equally between holidaying in the UK or abroad showing that like the rest of us, they like having the choice and variety each offers. ”

For further information

Sean Tipton, Media Relations Manager, tel: 020 3117 0513
Gillian Edwards, Senior Public Relations Manager, 020 3117 0514
Victoria Bacon Head of Communications, tel: 020 3117 0515
Out of Hours:  Contact the Duty Press Officer via pager: 07659 190 987
E-mail: press@abta.co.uk
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Twitter: @ABTAtravel

Notes to editors

Earlier this year the Government launched a multi-million pound television campaign explicitly encouraging people to holiday in the UK rather than go overseas.

ABTA has been at the heart of travel for more than 60 years. Our purpose is to help our Members to grow their businesses successfully and sustainably, and to help their customers – the travelling public – have confidence in their travel experience.

The ABTA brand stands for expertise, reliability and fairness. These qualities are core to us. They ensure that holidaymakers remain confident in the holiday products that they buy from our Members.

We help our Members and their customers navigate through today’s changing travel landscape by providing schemes of financial protection and a course of redress if something goes wrong; by raising standards in the industry and by giving guidance on issues from sustainability to health and safety; and by presenting a united voice to government to ensure the industry and the public get a fair deal.

ABTA currently has over 1,300 Members and represents over 5,000 retail outlets and offices. For more details about what we do, what being an ABTA Member means and how we’re working at the heart of the industry to ensure that we continue to build confidence in travel visit www.abta.com.

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