UK holidaymakers searching for flights outside eurozone

www.skyscanner.net

A growing number of Britons are avoiding the eurozone for their holidays, as seen by a decline in the number of online searches for flights to the traditionally popular destinations of Spain, France and Italy.

Online flight booking site, Skyscanner, has reported a drop of 15 per cent in flight searches to eurozone destinations, as compared with the same period in 2008. Searches for flights to long-haul destinations outside the eurozone have risen significantly.  Bangkok searches are up by 271 per cent, for example, and Turkey has three destinations on the top 10 searches list.

Since May of last year, the value of the pound has fallen by 13 per cent against the euro.”The strength of the euro seems to have scared off many travellers,” said Skyscanner co-founder, Barry Smith.

He added: “Despite the fact that non-euro countries are not necessarily cheaper than those within the eurozone, and that good value holiday spots exist within the eurozone.”

Countries traditionally attracting large numbers of UK holidaymakers, including Spain, France and Italy, are among the destinations seeing the sharpest fall in online searches. Prague, which is a favourite destination for British stag parties, is at the top of the least-searched list, having dropped in search numbers by 15 per cent.

Telegraph Travel published a report last week showing that Britons were paying an average of 50 per cent more for eurozone hotel rooms than last year.

Thanks to www.telegraph.co.uk for the above quotes, for more information on this article please visit their website.

www.skyscanner.net