More beach holidays predicted for ‘07

Beach holidays are regaining popularity, according to a poll of 4,000 travellers worldwide by TripAdvisor.

The online travel community’s annual travel trends survey found that 59% of those asked plan a beach holiday in 2007, up from 52%.

But spa holidays are losing their appeal, with fewer travellers (47%) intending to visit a spa next year compared with 55% this year.

Forty-three percent of travellers are likely to go hiking, up from 24% one year ago, and 39% plan adventure activities such as parasailing and whitewater rafting, up from 29% last year.

More women than men plan to participate in outdoor activities in 2007, according to the survey.

Ranked number three in the list of emerging hotspots for 2007 after Pamukkale, Turkey and Parga. Greece is the Scottish West Coast resort town of Ayr. The resorts dropping in popularity are led by Miami, Honolulu and Acapulco. 

TripAdvisor Top Ten Hot World Destinations for 2007:

1.                        Pamukkale, Turkey

2.                        Parga, Greece

3.                        Ayr, Scotland

4.                        Campeche, Mexico

5.                        Marrakech, Morocco

6.                        Naxos, Greece

7.                        Puno, Peru

8.                        Soller, Spain

9.                        Salvador, Bahia, Brazil

10.                       Fes, Morocco

British Airways was voted favourite airline by all international travellers. The most important reason for nominating an airline favourite was “friendly and helpful staff” followed by “good on-time departure and arrival record”.

But Ryanair’s no frills service received the thumbs down and was voted the world’s least favourite airline followed by United Airlines. Amongst British travellers, easyJet was nominated the second least favourite after Ryanair.

British travellers rated “good leg room” a much more important feature when choosing an airline compared with the rest of the world.

Britain received the wooden spoon for airports with Heathrow being nominated least favourite airport among international travellers, followed by Chicago O’Hare. Changi International airport, Singapore was nominated the world’s favourite.

Most people seem to make the most of the holiday entitlement but none more so than the British. Eighty five percent of British travellers claimed to take all of their annual holiday allowance compared with 70% worldwide.

British travellers are also less likely to check their work e-mail or voice mail while on holiday. Thirty two per cent of all travellers said that they checked once or twice and 16% daily compared with 26% and 10% respectively of UK travellers.

Report by Phil Davies