Trips abroad fell by more than 15 per cent as the UK was gripped by recession, according to new figures.

Both business and holiday flights saw a dramatic decline between 2008 and 2009, while Britons also cut back on travel by sea and through the Channel Tunnel.

However, the squeeze was not unique to ventures overseas – even domestic commuters made fewer journeys as the nation tightened its purse strings.

The figures, released by the Office for National Statistics, show a total of 58.6 million foreign trips were made by UK residents in 2009, a decrease of 15.1 per cent on the year before.

The biggest fall was in flights, which dropped by 16.6 per cent.

Travel through the Channel Tunnel decreased by 8.3 per cent and journeys by sea fell by 6.2 per cent.

Meanwhile, there was a significant dip in the number of international passengers at the country’s airports as the sweeping effects of the economic downturn were felt across the globe.

This fell from a high of 192 million in 2007 to 176 million in 2009, with the most significant drop – 13 million passengers – occurring between 2008 and 2009 as the economic crisis took hold.

At home, the number of domestic air passengers fell from a high of 25 million in 2005 to 21 million in 2009. During the same period, there was a 9.6 per cent drop in the number of domestic business trips while workers cut their regular commutes by 9.1 per cent.

Similar marked decreases in the amount of freight handled were also observed, both on a national and international level.