Summer 09 Travel Trends: Skyscanner Reveals Winners and Losers of British Tourist Traffic

EDINBURGH - Leading cheap flight site, Skyscanner (www.Skyscanner.net) reveals this summer’s fastest growing destinations for British holidaymakers, and those that are losing out.

With anti-eurozone sentiment still strong, Brits are increasingly looking to non-euro destinations this year. Thailand, the USA and Portugal are the top three climbers; at the other end of the scale, the Czech Republic, Ireland and Cyprus have had the greatest drop in popularity.

Going Up

1. Bangkok, Thailand (+271%) 2. Los Angeles, USA (+170%) 3. Porto, Portugal (+163%) 4. Dalaman, Turkey (+160%) 5. Orlando, USA (+158%) 6. Istanbul, Turkey (+157%) 7. Sharm El Sheik, Egypt (+156%) 8. Bodrum, Turkey (+153%) 9. Burgas, Bulgaria (+152%) 10. Oslo, Norway (+143%)

Biggest rises in flight searches on Skyscanner.net for summer 09 (May 1st-Aug 30th) compared to summer 08. Flights from UK airports.

Bangkok has seen by far the biggest rise in the number of searches with 271% growth year on year.

US destinations are also on the rise, with LA and Orlando interest up considerably, despite the strengthening US dollar.

Egypt and Bulgaria are both proving more popular this summer, but overall, Turkey is the single biggest winner, with three of the top ten fastest growing destinations being in the country.

And the biggest losers?

Going Down

1. Prague, Czech Republic (-15%) 2. Cork, Republic of Ireland (-13%) 3. Paphos, Cyprus (-11%) 4. Geneva, Switzerland (-6.5%) 5. Palma, Spain (-6%) 6. Pisa, Italy (-5.5%) 7. Nice, France (-5%) 8. Bordeaux, France (-4.5%) 9. Menorca, Spain (-4%) 10. Venice, Italy (-3%) Barry Smith, Skyscanner co-founder commented: “Skyscanner’s data shows that value for money is the biggest factor influencing this summer’s travel trends. Turkey is clearly benefiting from this enormously with three destinations in the top 10 climbers list. It’s already an established tourist destination, and has the sun, sea and sand that Greece and Spain offer, with the added buzzword of being non-euro”. About Skyscanner Skyscanner is the most powerful and flexible flight search engine in Europe, providing instant online comparison on flight prices for over 670,000 routes on over 600 airlines. With Skyscanner, users can browse without having to enter specific dates or even destinations, and Skyscanner is available in 20 different languages including French, German and Spanish. www.skyscanner.net

Source: Skyscanner