New ABTA data has revealed that 27% of winter holidaymakers are heading on a Christmas market break this year
The association's new Travel Trends for 2025 report revealed that Christmas market breaks have been reported as the third most popular holiday style this festive season, beaten only by city breaks and winter sun holidays.
Despite city breaks remaining the most popular travel style this winter, their popularity has dwindled slightly from last year, reported as the preferred travel style for 40.2% of winter holidaymakers, down from 43.3% in 2023.
Winter sun has retained a stable share of the winter holiday market with 29.1% of the travel share for the festive season, only down 0.2% against 2023.
Northern Lights trips come in fourth. The natural phenomenon's appearance across the UK throughout this year has evidently enticed guests to head to catch them 'in situ'. Nearly one in five (18%) will pursue the Aurora Borealis this winter, up from 16% in 2023.
Graeme Buck, ABTA's director of communications, said, "One of the biggest travel trends we’re seeing is a desire for unique experiences on holiday, and in particular the magical atmosphere of Christmas market breaks and the natural wonder of the Northern Lights are proving incredibly popular."
Cruise's popularity is up 2.6% (from 14.2% to 17.6% this year), with wellbeing (from 13.6% to 14.4%) and skiing/snowboarding breaks (9.1% to 9.8%) also earning greater shares this year.
