Long haul on the rise this summer – lastminute.com
Adventure-seeking holidaymakers are branching out to more far flung destinations this summer, according to lastminute.com
The online travel retailer has seen bookings to the Maldives grow by 34% year-on-year while Thailand – particularly Phuket – and Kenya are gaining in popularity.
Yet there has also a rise in demand for Greece, which has overtaken Egypt in the top position.
Turkey is now once again among best selling destinations, having returned into the company’s top five destinations, beating Italy and Portugal with a record 33% increase in bookings.
The strength of the pound against the dollar means city breaks to New York, San Francisco and Las Vegas, usually winter favourites, are also doing well this summer with bookings up 50%, the company said.
New destinations have also emerged this year including China with Beijing and Shanghai selling well. Cape Verde and Eastern European countries such as Latvia, Slovenia, Lithuania and Poland are also hot on the list for holidaymakers.
Lastminute.com UK managing director John Bevan said: “We are seeing some really interesting shifts in trends this year where our customers are abandoning the traditional resorts in favour of more exotic and far flung locations.
“This is probably due to a desire for more luxury and the great value for money that we have for places such as the Maldives, the low fares and the weakness of the dollar for the States and the increased publicity for destinations such as China.
“Holidaymakers are more and more adventurous and want to see how far their money can take them.”
by Phil Davies
Phil Davies
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