04 February 2009

Eurozone countries holding up, according to Monarch

Destinations both inside and outside of the eurozone are performing well, according to Monarch.

Unveiling its holiday trends for 2009, Monarch said for winter the Canary Islands are proving to be a popular choice, with Tenerife, Lanzarote and Gran Canaria all appearing within the top five of the 'What's hot for 2009' chart.

Summer 2009 is also reflecting a similar trend, although the Balearic Islands of Menorca and Mallorca also feature within the top five destinations.

Monarch Holidays 'What's hot' - Winter 2009

1. Tenerife
2. Lanzarote
3. Sharm el Sheikh (Egypt)
4. Goa
5. Gran Canaria

Monarch Holidays 'What's hot' - Summer 2009

1. Menorca
2. Dalaman (Turkey)
3. Tenerife
4. Mallorca
5. Lanzarote

Managing director of Monarch Flights and Holidays, Liz Savage, said: "Despite early indications that holidaymakers were looking to head east for their holidays this year, the picture to date is somewhat different.

Ã¢â¬ÅâœThe Canary Islands which benefit from year-round sunshine and are only a four hour flight time from the UK, are the surprise destination leaders for both holiday and flight-only bookings this winter, with Lanzarote in particular already 13% ahead of holiday bookings vs 2008.

Ã¢â¬ÅâœThe Balearic Islands of Mallorca and Menorca are also performing strongly for summer, particularly the all-inclusive resorts which are proving hugely popular with families and now account for 70% of the Balearic bookings.Ã¢â¬~

Monarch's passenger numbers were 180,060 in January 2009, up 8.4% over January 2008.

Load factors were up 2.27 percentage points to 75.77%.

But sales through the internet fell three percentage points to 88%.

By Bev Fearis