City breaks suffer as downturn bites
A single long holiday and fewer short breaks have emerged as booking trends for this summer.
A study by online travel company Opodo of bookings made during January and up until February 10 against the same period last year show that southern hemisphere destinations are up but city breaks in the eurozone are suffering.
Long haul city trips to New York and Las Vegas are down this year, whereas Florida is making a comeback as holidaymakers look for safety and security in difficult times, according to the company.
Opodo UK country director Caroline Noble said the booking patterns indicate that holidaymakers are taking one longer holiday and fewer short breaks as the value of the pound makes European and US city breaks less attractive options.
“Bookings to Africa, Asia and the South Pacific have dramatically increased for summer 2009 whereas European cities are struggling, with Paris, Athens and Florence all reporting negative growth year-on-year,” she said.
“We are also noticing that our customers are booking short-haul much later this year with the economic uncertainty, so we expect to see bookings increase as they book short holidays later in the year to complement the longer one they have already booked for further afield.”
Top 10 destinations with the biggest growth this year (source Opodo):
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