Best Holiday Destinations - Trends & Stats

I have mentioned several times in my previous posts how Turkey is fast becoming the holiday destination of choice for us Brits. The decline in the economy, high unemployment, and weak Euro have all combined to cause low disposable income for a huge number of British families. This has meant people looking at cheaper alternatives to their regular holidays.
Recent stats from Co-op Travel show Turkey holidays have grown the most in the last year, with Dalaman seeing an 82% increase in bookings in 2010 compared to the same period last year. Bodrum, also in Turkey, as well as Sharm el Sheikh in Egypt, Crete in Greece and Larnaka in Cyprus all popular choices for 2010. In terms of overall popularity, Co-op list:
1) Turkey
2) Majorca
3) Orlando
as their top three holiday destinations.

Travel Supermarket list a slightly different top 3:
1) Turkey
2) Egypt
3) Spain
The common theme here of course being that Turkey leads the way in both lists. The "voucher culture" that has arisen over the last year or so has led to a huge rise in people finding 'deals' for their holidays, which Turkey package holiday suppliers have been able to offer and capitalise upon. Florida remains a popular destination for the more long-haul traveler - for car hire Florida visit Hire4Less.
It seems these trends are set to continue at least for the next year or so, with holidaymakers looking to save money where possible while the economy struggles to recover.


Turkey - soaring in popularity

Non EU Holiday Destinations: Istanbul, Turkey

I've already previously mentioned Turkey as a top non EU holiday destination, but I would not be doing justice to this great country if I did not talk about it in a bit more detail. Istanbul is definitely one of the hottest locations in Turkey, it has a cosmopolitan atmosphere but at the same time remains relaxing and therefore you do feel like you are on holiday.

Turkey

Turkey is a country that is both within Europe and Asia - the Turkish Straits that run through the country in the North West is generally believed to be the splitting point between Europe and Asia. Due to this location, it has a diverse culture that include Eastern and Western traits and characteristics. Turkey is not in the EU either - and as mentioned in my previous posts this is probably the key factor that has led to Turkey becoming the most popular holiday destination in Europe, overtaking Spain. As the Euro has increased in power against the pound, holiday makers are looking further afield to get the best holiday bargains available. Turkey is now on average about £100 cheaper per person than Spain is - this fact carries great weight with cash-strapped tourists eager to save money before worse financial times kick in further down the line.

Turkey posesses many qualities that help it top the list of most popular holiday destinations - it has a diverse history, as it was home to the Ottoman Empire, a powerful empire spanning three continents, it has a good, hot climate, food is good and the people are friendly. Also, there are a range of possible holiday destinations for prospective tourists - breaks to the cites of Turkey such as Istanbul or more relaxing coastal holidays to unwind after a long period of work back home - Turkey provides it all.

Holidays & the Economy

Personally, I'm fed up of people going on about the credit crunch and how we're all going to starve due to a lack of food - and if we don't starve we're going to freeze because gas and electricity prices are sky high. Yes it's probably all true, but unless we work in the Bank of England of happen to own an oil field we can't really do much about it - or is there?

I recently read an interesting article in the Telegraph about how people's choice of holiday destination is changing dramatically due to the faltering British Economy. At the moment the Sterling/Euro exchange rate is at a terrible - 1 Euro costs 95.7 pence. Only a year or two ago a Euro cost us about 60p - the change is dramatic. Add harges placed on cash withdrawls and por exchange rates in some shops and you are basically paying £1 for a Euro. This has led people to look outside the EU for their 2009 holiday destination.



Spain has for a long time been the UK's favourite holiday destination - a country with excellent cheap package deals, good food and excellent weather - a classic destination for us Brits. However, apparently, Turkey has overtaken Spain as the most popular destination for the UK - an astounding fact in my opinion. This is mainly due to the average cost of a holiday to the 2 countries - a holiday to Turkey costs over £100 less, per person, than Spain, partly due to the poor exchange rate.

So in conclusion, there are things we can do to prevent starvation during these harsh economic times, and the public have acted already. A simple change of holiday destination to a potentially cheaper non-EU country can help save our hard earned cash, and maybe our lives too.