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Join today<\/a><\/p>\n \n Already a member? Older people are spending their money to go on more holidays rather than leaving it to their children or losing it to inheritance tax, a senior figure in the travel industry has said. <\/p>\n Recently-released data from Abta<\/a>, the UK<\/a>\u2019s largest travel trade association shows that 82 per cent of over-65s had been on holiday in the past 12 months, a rise of five percentage points from two years ago. <\/p>\n The number of over-65s holidaying abroad has risen to 55 per cent, which represents a percentage point increase from two years ago. <\/p>\n Mark Tanzer, Abta\u2019s chief executive, told The Times that the spike could be attributed to a willingness to spend money which could have become inheritance for their children. <\/p>\n \u201cI think that generation is probably fitter than it used to be; your mortgage is paid off, you are starting your pension, you are actually quite cash rich compared to a young family starting out,\u201d he told the newspaper. <\/p>\n \u201cI think they have got more disposable income and they want to have experiences, there may be a bit of them thinking, \u2018I just don\u2019t want to leave this to my kids\u2019, but they certainly don\u2019t want to leave it to the taxman. I think there\u2019s that sense of \u2018well if I don\u2019t spend it, it will just go to inheritance tax\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n According to The Times, this idea is known as ski-ing, meaning \u201cspending the kids\u2019 inheritance\u201d.<\/p>\n Spain<\/a> was the most popular overseas destination for the age group with 43 per cent visiting the country. The US<\/a> and Turkey<\/a> were also popular, with city breaks and beach holidays regular choices among over-65s.<\/p>\n However, Abta\u2019s report, called Holiday Habits, found that holidays remain a spending priority among the British people and fewer people are looking to cut back on them over other non-essentials such as dining out, buying clothes or other leisure activities.<\/p>\n Its data suggested that there was a bit more caution when it came to holiday spending due to the increased cost of living.<\/p>\n Holidays remain far down the list in terms of what people are willing to cut back on, but the gap between them and other areas of spending has tightened.<\/p>\n Abta\u2019s polling showed 23 per cent of people would cut back spending on UK holidays, while 32 per cent would look to cut back on holidays abroad.<\/p>\n In his forward to the report on the data, Mr Tanzer wrote: \u201cBehind the headline figures, it has been a tough year for the travel industry.<\/p>\n
\n Log in<\/a>\n <\/p>\nBenidorm is one of the most popular Spanish destinations with Britons (AFP\/Getty)<\/p>\n