UK travellers showing pent-up demand for holidays in Spain, with searches for departure dates in January 2021 up 1,626%
- Travel searches for trips from the UK to France in January 2021 are up by 409%
- Research for trips to Italy also frenzied, with searches up by 385% for that month
- Searches for trips to Germany, however, are below average for January 2021
British travellers are in lockdown, but they are clearly dreaming of – and researching – their next holiday.
And where will that be? Spain, by the looks of it.
Analysts have revealed that travel searches for trips from the UK to Spain with a departure date in January 2021 are up year-over-year by 1,626 per cent.
Analysts have revealed that travel searches from the UK to Spain with a departure date in January 2021 are up year-over-year by 1,626 per cent
The number-crunching comes courtesy of digital travel marketing solutions firm Sojern, which presented a range of findings in a blog post.
It says that travel searches for holidays from the UK to France in January 2021 also show an early increase – of 409 per cent year-over-year – and that lots of Britons will also be heading to Italy, according to the data, which shows ‘a significant above-average year-over-year increase of 385 per cent’.
Searches for trips to Germany, however, are below average for the same month, based on data from March 30.
Sojern says: ‘Whilst actual travel bookings are a stronger sign of consumer confidence, many consumers will search out of general interest, to check for availability and pricing and travel inspiration for their favourite destinations.
‘The departure date of January 2021 is extremely far out and we usually only see a small percentage of early searches looking at regional travel this far in advance.
‘We are, however, seeing an increase in early searches due to the current situation. Therefore, these numbers, although significant in terms of increases, are very early signs of travel intent.’
Majorca, pictured, could be one of the Spanish destinations that sees a huge wave of visitors next year
The firm stresses that it will ‘take some time for the industry to recover and for consumer confidence to return’.
As a result, it expects recovery to ‘start domestically, with travellers opting to travel closer to home’.
It adds that ‘this is certainly the case for European countries’ including France, Italy and the UK, which ‘all show a very early indication of year-over-year increases in domestic travel searches for January 2021’ – 17 per cent, 103 per cent and 60 per cent respectively.
Source: Read Full Article