More than six million 'will book a holiday between Christmas and New Year's Eve'

More than one million people each day will book their next holiday between Boxing Day and New Year's Eve, according to new research.

The six-day period will see a total of 6.5 million people book a trip, according to a poll commissioned by travel protection body Atol.

Holiday planners will spend an average of 15 hours and six minutes researching their 2017 holiday, the study found.

Spain is set to be the most in-demand destination, with 28% of people wanting to visit, followed by Italy (19%), the US (18%) and Greece (13%).

Andy Cohen of Atol said: "The period between Christmas and the new year is one of the busiest times of the year for holiday bookings, with around 13 million of us looking to find a holiday deal during the break.

"While many people in the UK will spend hours trawling the internet for the best deals and social media for the best locations, it's equally important that they put just a couple of minutes aside to check their holiday is Atol protected."

Some 2,000 UK adults who holiday abroad took part in the survey.