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British people are showing an increasing willingness to travel to long-haul destinations for relatively short breaks, according to research.

A survey by Halifax Travel Insurance found that more than 3.7m British people flew over 5.5bn miles for short breaks in the past year, taking a flight of at least seven hours for a holiday lasting less than a week.

This trend is set to continue this year, with 4.9m people already having booked long-haul mini breaks for 2008.

North America is the most popular location for Brits taking short long-haul holidays, with 1.97m trips made there in the past year, followed by the Far East (540,000), the Indian subcontinent (226,000) and Australasia (218,000).

Paul Birkhead of Halifax Travel Insurance said: 'Better airline quality, the lure of winter sun, favourable exchange rates and cheaper long-haul flights has created a boom in demand for long-haul mini breaks, with millions of us enduring long flights for a weekend break on the other side of the globe.'

People in the south-east are the most likely to take a long-haul break, with 12% having taken one.

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