As the traditional summer holiday season gets underway this month, newly released research (1) from ABTA Travel Money reveals how much, on average, UK holidaymakers spend whilst on an overseas holiday.

Despite the continuing high cost of living putting a strain on some households, UK travellers are budgeting more for their overseas holiday spending, with an average spend of £369 each during a short break, rising to £660 for a longer break.

The average spend per person has increased since 2022, up more than £59 for an overseas short break and a rise of £231 per person for a longer holiday abroad.

Families with older children (aged over 5) are likely to spend the most whilst on a short break, totalling £431. For those heading off on a longer holiday, the highest spend comes from travellers aged 55-64, spending £721 on average.

Visitors to all Euro currency destinations this summer will see a little more for their money as the pound has increased against the Euro (up 2.1%) and a considerable rise (up 65%) against the Turkish Lira compared with this time last year (2).

ABTA Travel Money is advising holidaymakers that they can make their money go even further by buying local currency in the UK before their trip which will save money on costly ATM and bank charges when in destination. It also means you have cash readily available for items such as taxis, small vendors and local shopping where cards may not be accepted.

Graeme Buck, Director of Communications for ABTA Travel Money, said:

“People are spending more while on holiday overseas and that can’t just be put down to inflation. Over the past two years, UK prices have risen by a total of 9.3% (3) whereas overseas holiday spend is up by 54% for a longer holiday.

“Add in more favourable exchange rates for many holiday destinations, we see over the last few years that there has been a clear shift towards people spending the spare money they may have on holidays and creating memories that will last a lifetime.

“Some of those memories are made possible by having cash with you, meaning you don’t miss out on something simply through not having planned your foreign currency before you leave.”  



(1) Statistics from research conducted by The Nursery Research and Planning (www.the-nursery.net/) in the last two weeks of August 2023 with a nationally representative sample of 2,000 UK adults. Respondents were asked to state on average how much money they spend per person whilst on a short break overseas and whilst on a longer break overseas. ABTA’s annual Holiday Habits research is conducted every summer. A regional breakdown of holiday spends are available on request.
(2) The Euro and Turkish Lira percentage increases are taken from foreign exchange provider 
Eurochange and are in comparison to 13 May 2023. 
(3) The 9.3% UK price increase is from the Bank of England’s inflation calculator comparing 2022 with now.