UK bank holiday weekend: About 5.1 million people will go on a holiday, generating £1.3bn for the UK economy
Heathrow is expecting more than 440,000 passengers to fly out over the holiday weekend Reuters

About 5.1 million Brits are planning an overnight holiday trip in the UK, over the August Bank Holiday weekend, national tourism agency VisitEngland has estimated. Of this, 4.6 million are planning a holiday in England, it added.

VisitEngland said this would generate about £1.25bn ($1.65bn) for the UK economy. Of this, it said, £1.1bn will be spent in England.

Various travel organisations have estimated that a large number of the population will also holiday abroad from Friday (26 August) to Monday (29 August). Abta, the UK association of travel agents and tour operators estimated the number of overseas holiday makers at 2 million.

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Mark Tanzer, CEO at Abta said: "This weekend is the traditional curtain closer for the peak summer months and it is always a very busy weekend for travel, with millions taking advantage of the long weekend to head off overseas. With the roads predicted to be extremely busy, holidaymakers should make sure that they leave plenty of time to get to their port of departure."

Airports around the country are expected to remain busy. While Heathrow is expecting more than 440,000 passengers to fly out over the holiday weekend, Gatwick is expecting 311,000 departing passengers. Stansted on the other hand is expected to see 103,000 people fly over the weekend.

Other modes of transportation such as ports, the channel tunnel and the highways are also expected to see high demand. The UK's Automobile Association (AA) expects the roads to be busy over the holiday weekend with an estimated 13 million drivers. Saturday (27 August) is expected to be the busiest day, with 10 million drivers estimated to hit the road, , according to the BBC.

Max Holdstock from AA said holiday weekends are "always a bit of a mad scramble on the roads". He added that traffic was likely to build up on Friday evening as people set off early to make the most of the weekend, and would be busy again for the return on Monday afternoon.

Intercity coach operator National Express also said that the next two days will be the busiest weekend of the year. It expects hundreds of thousands of people to be travelling by coach during this holiday.