20 July 2009

We donÃ¢â¬â¢t know where weÃ¢â¬â¢re going on holiday

More than half of UK tourists visit the same holiday destination an average of five or more times - because they are unsure of where they may end up if they make the change.

When asked to identify the country location of 10 key tourist destinations around the world, 54% of respondents surveyed got eight or more incorrect.

Less than half of those questioned correctly identified Marrakech as being situated in Morocco, with 20% placing the city in Botswana, Russia and even the UK, according to research by Easyjet

Fifty eight per cent were unable to identify Larnaca as a popular tourist resort in Cyprus, instead pinpointing it as destination in Chile, Iceland and Peru.

Almost half hoping to experience the delights of Portugal, Swaziland or Ireland on a visit to Helsinki, would have been baffled on arriving in Finland after booking a flight to the capital.

Then 14% of respondents believed that a trip to Sofia would transport them to Antarctica rather than the capital city of Bulgaria.

The airline’s UK general manager Paul Simmons said: "We were amazed that so many UK tourists stick to the same destinations year in, year out when there are so many different countries and cultures to experience.

"However, the results of our survey revealed that people may be more than a little confused as to where they may be travelling to. With respondents placing Nice in the Bahamas and Vienna in France - we’d encourage them to browse the destinations guides on our website to discover the extent of the exciting places they can visit and where they are in the world."

by Phil Davies