January is the time when British minds begin to wander towards a break in the sun. As the search for this year’s holiday gains momentum, leading online travel agent, Netflights.com reveals where’s hot for those looking to travel long haul in 2012. Over 650,000 holiday searches have been carried out on netflights.com since the turn of the year…
January is the time when British minds begin to wander towards a break in the sun. As the search for this year’s holiday gains momentum, leading online travel agent, Netflights.com reveals where’s hot for those looking to travel long haul in 2012.
Over 650,000 holiday searches have been carried out on netflights.com since the turn of the year and Orlando and Bangkok have emerged as the destinations most popular with Brits planning their 2012 getaway.
7% (approximately 45,500) of total searches have been for holidays to Orlando, highlighting that the destination remains a firm favourite with UK families looking for an overseas holiday. A similar number of searches, again around 7%, have been for flights and holidays to Bangkok, Thailand which has also long been a favourite with UK holiday makers.
Whilst Orlando and Bangkok are the most searched destinations, the USA as a whole is by far the most popular country with Netflights.com users, with New York (6%), Las Vegas (5%), Miami and Los Angeles (both 2%) all featuring in the top 10 most searched destinations. There’s also room in the top 25 for Tampa, Boston and San Francisco, further enhancing the USA’s credentials as a holiday hotspot for Brits travelling long haul.
Together with Bangkok, other South East Asian destinations are also proving popular with UK travellers. Singapore, Hong Kong, Kuala Lumpur, Manila and the Thai island of Phuket all appearing in the top 25 most searched destinations and in total, destinations in South East Asia account for 12% (approximately 78,000) of all searches made on netflights.com.
Brits are also showing a healthy interest in Australia. Sydney (2%), Perth (2%) and Brisbane (1%) all appear in the top 25 and account for around 33,000 of total searches carried out so far in 2012.
Outside of the USA, South East Asia and Australia, Dubai is still a popular destination with UK tourists and approximately 26,000 holiday searches (4% of the total) on www.netflights.com have been from the UK to the emirate.
A spokesperson for Netflights.com said: “These early search statistics are very much inline with what we would expect, given the overall popularity of the destinations and the fantastic value available in the marketplace. We’ve worked with our airline partners including Delta Air Lines, United Airlines, Cathay Pacific, Emirates and Etihad to negotiate some of the best deals in the market and these offers are helping generate a lot of interest in these destinations.”
Vicky is the co-founder of TravelDailyNews Media Network where she is the Editor-in Chief. She is also responsible for the daily operation and the financial policy. She holds a Bachelor's degree in Tourism Business Administration from the Technical University of Athens and a Master in Business Administration (MBA) from the University of Wales. She has many years of both academic and industrial experience within the travel industry. She has written/edited numerous articles in various tourism magazines.