Madrid in Spain is one of the most popular destination for holidaying Britishers (Photo: Florian Wehde/Unsplash)
As the season of summer is in full swing, Trip.com, one of the leading travel agencies in the world, has released a list of the most popular destinations among its customers for one of the busiest periods of the year for travel.
The company says July 22 looks set to be a bumper day for travel as data from the global travel service provider suggests that it will be Britain’s busiest so far.
Trip.com shows that it is short haul European trips that British holidaymakers continue to favour, as nine out of the 10 most popular destinations are in Europe.
The only long-haul destination to make the list was Bangkok, as travellers flock back to Thailand – one of the few Asian countries to drop most Covid-19 entry restrictions.
According to Trip.com, demand from UK travellers for short-haul travel is two and a half times higher than for long-haul flights. Whereas across the whole of Europe, the increase in short-haul summer bookings is a staggering 27 times higher than for long-haul.
Data further reveals that Spain has remained a popular choice for holidaying Britishers for post-Covid travel, as three Spanish destinations – Barcelona, Madrid and Palma de Mallorca have all made it to the list of top 10 in the world.
“Midweek is the most popular time to plan a holiday with Trip.com as data shows that Tuesday through Thursday are the peak days for browsing flights and hotels. Wednesday is the most popular day overall for flight searches, with Saturday being the least busy,” says Andy Washington, Trip.com Group General Manager for Europe.
Washington says as school summer holidays are open, Trip.com has analysed the popularity of destinations among its customers and found that the majority of Trip.com customers are travelling to short-haul destinations rather than travelling further afield, while staycations are also remaining a firm favourite.
“We are really pleased to see the European travel market rebounding from the pandemic so quickly, and look forward to continuing our expansion within the UK and Europe over the coming months,” Washington adds.
When it comes to trip length, the figures reveal some surprising insights with European customers travelling for longer during 2020 than they did before the pandemic. The average trip length in June 2019 was 6.2 days, rising to 8.8 in 2020 and back down to 6.6 in June 2022.
According to a press release, Trip.com has seen an influx of bookings from the UK for domestic trips, with London taking the top spot for the most popular destination, followed closely by Manchester. Apart from that Dublin, within the Common Travel Area, was also a favourite coming in fifth place.
The rising popularity of UK domestic flights has been shown to be nearly three times higher this month than the same month last year.
There is also a similar picture across the continent, with Trip.com’s key European markets again favouring trips to the United Kingdom – giving hope to the inbound tourism industry.
For those European travellers heading off on July 22, London is the favourite destination, followed once again by Manchester.
A strong desire for short-haul city breaks is also evident among European travellers, with key EU cities such as Paris, Athens, Milan, Barcelona, Madrid and Dublin being top favourites.
Thailand’s continuing appeal to European travellers remains high, with Bangkok being the third most popular destination on July 22. This highlights the appetite for Asian travel, following the relaxation of travel restrictions.
Trip.com is currently seeing a monthly 10 pc surge in bookings for its core European markets, showing the ongoing recovery for the travel and tourism sector.
