The UK has emerged as the top destination for car hire this Christmas as people forgo foreign holidays to stay with their families.
Data from car hire broker Holiday Autos shows UK year-on-year bookings more than doubling over the Christmas and new year period.
This indicates that financial fears are leading people to stay at home and visit friends and family, the company claims.
Managing director Stuart Nassos said: “More people than ever are hiring a car in the UK this festive period, indicating this Christmas will be a family affair.â€
For those people who are going away this festive period, South Africa popularity has increased dramatically with bookings up almost a quarter (23%) compared to the same period in 2007.
Cape Town is the most popular city to pick up car hire in South Africa, followed by Durban and Johannesburg, where people pick up their car hire to drive to the Sun City resort.
Nassos said: “South Africa is the perfect long haul winter sun destination to explore on the road, which is why it has jumped to the seventh in the list of most car hires over the festive period.â€
Closer to home, other countries recording impressive Christmas and new year booking increases include Germany and Switzerland up 79% and 17% respectively.
Despite the poor exchange rate with the Euro, Spain remains in the top five most popular destinations.
Top destinations for the festive period (source, Holiday Autos)
1. UK
2. USA
3. Switzerland
4. Spain
5. Portugal
6. Canaries
7. South Africa
8. Italy
9. Australia
10. Ireland
See today’s separate stories about similar surveys by VisitBritain and Holiday Extras.
