THERE may be a slump in transatlantic travel nationally, but you would never know it in Dorset.

Figures released by National Air Traffic Services revealed a ten per cent drop in flights to the United States as Britons tighten their belts, but local residents appear to be bucking the trend.

Bath Travel’s annual flight to New York was fully booked months ago – with not even a poor exchange rate putting people off.

Director Dawn Jordan said: “The flight is completely full. It’s very popular this year and it sold out very quickly.

“We could, if we had a bigger aircraft, have filled that as well. Even with the downturn in the dollar, we still had people ringing through until last week to see if we had any seats left.”

Dawn said the trip would certainly be taking place next year, and she didn’t anticipate any dip in popularity, even if there was no improvement in the exchange rate.

Someone who will be thinking twice, however, is Peter White, from Parkstone. Mr White, 57, bought the New York trip for him and his wife, Josie, at a charity auction earlier this year, when the exchange rate was $2 to the £1.

He said the slide in the value of sterling had taken the edge off the holiday.

“It won’t turn out to be the trip it was going to be. We were going to do the usual – take two empty suitcases and stock up on loads of lovely presents for Christmas, but that’s not going to happen now.

“We’ll be buying some stuff, but nothing like what we had planned. We won’t be in a rush to go back over there yet.”

The strong euro is also having an effect on people’s holiday destinations, with many now choosing to journey outside the “Euro zone”.

Increased interest has been reported in countries such as Turkey, Egypt, Morocco and Tunisia.

David Skillicorn, managing director of Bournemouth-based Palmair, said: “I think there’s always been a yen to go further afield.

“The public has worked out the exchange rate between the pound and the US dollar, they’ve picked up the fact that that’s gone into reverse.

“Those that have worked out the effect of a sliding pound against the euro are more conscious of what it could cost outside the Eurozone.

“When it’s cold, wet and dark you think ‘to hell with this’ and we’re noticing a huge amount of interest in Tunisia because it appears to offer permanent sunshine.”