Post-Brexit holiday plans unaffected as majority of Brits book 2019 summer breaks to Europe

One in 10 UK adults have already booked their summer getaway for 2019, with just under half having plumped for European holidays, despite the uncertainty around Brexit.

Some 5.6 million Brits have already purchased trips away, according to new research from Sainsbury’s Bank.

A survey of 2,008 people revealed that 49 per cent of those who’d booked for next year were heading to Europe, while 29 per cent were planning on a staycation.

Of the rest, 8 per cent were jetting off to North America, 7 per cent to Asia and 5 per cent to Australasia.

The high proportion of trips booked to Europe comes despite the uncertainty surrounding what will happen on 29 March 2019, the date when the UK officially leaves the European Union.

However, the number of early bookers appears to have fallen since the last time Sainsbury’s Bank conducted a similar study: in 2015 it found that 8.7 million Brits would have booked their main holiday for 2016 by the end of the year.

It is still unclear whether the UK will have agreed a deal with the EU by then, or whether there will be a no-deal Brexit.

The government has started preparing for a no-deal scenario, with contingency plans drawn up explaining how such an outcome would affect travel.

These say that if the UK leaves the EU with no deal, UK and EU licensed airlines lose the automatic right to operate air services between the UK and the EU without seeking advance permission – airlines operating between the UK and the EU would need to seek individual permissions to operate.

The government says it would envisage granting permission to EU airlines to continue to operate and that it would expect EU countries to reciprocate, but the EU hasn’t confirmed this. If permissions aren’t granted, there could be disruption to flights.

In addition, the preparedness notices issued by the European Commission indicate that they will not recognise the UK aviation security system. Practically speaking, it means UK passengers would have to be rescreened when flying between two EU countries.

If there’s no deal, the automatic mutual recognition of aviation safety certificates, provided for under the EASA system, would also cease to apply to the UK. The European Commission says that certificates previously issued by the CAA before exit day would no longer be automatically accepted in the EASA system after 29 March 2019.