Figures on the Bristol Airport website for May slightly contradict the general trend of this thread.
Charter pax were up 6.15% (at 140K) compared to May 2003, whilst sched pax were up over 20% (at 272K).
Part of the inccrease might be down to new weekly charter destinations this summer (new from BRS that is) to such destinations as Corsica, Sardinia, Croatia and more flights to Turkey and Bulgaria.
Perhaps that's one way for tour operators to go - provide more niche, out-of-the-way destinations not catered for by the locos.