The amount of UK residents holidaying abroad fell in 2009 by 15 per cent, the biggest drop in numbers since the 1970s, says the Office for National Statistics (ONS).

Last year, a total of 58.6 million holidays were taken abroad in the UK, however, that is 10.4 million fewer than during 2008. The amount of arrivals coming into the UK dropped as well by 6.3 per cent, with just 29.9 million foreigners entering the the country in 2009.

The steepest fall in numbers was seen in the business sector, with business visits dropping to a lower level than all other types of arrivals. Overall UK business travel dropped by 23 per cent, and 19 per cent of businessmen and women reported taking fewer work-related trips from abroad to the UK.

The ONS report, dubbed ‘Travel Trends’, details the fact that travel has been dropping in the UK since 2007, but that 2009 dropped significantly more in comparison to levels in 2007 and 2008. Experts are saying the findings are largely due to the fall in sterling and movement of exchange rates. Yet despite the drop in visitors, holiday spending in the UK was up from levels in 2008, rising from £16.3bn in 2008 to £16.6bn in 2009.

London stayed at the top in most popular UK holiday destinations, followed by Edinburgh, Glasgow, Birmingham, Manchester, Bristol, Cambridge and Oxford. For UK residents, the most popular holidaying abroad locations remained as Spain, the US and France. Between these three countries, they accounted for nearly half of all visits abroad during 2009.

Mexico saw the biggest fall in popularity with a drop of 41 per cent in visitors from Britain. Last year saw the global swine flu epidemic and the height of the recession, both of which contributed largely to the fall in holidays.