A newly published report by flight comparison service Skyscanner, compiled from its 7 million monthly UK visitors, lists Turkey amongst the Top 5 most searched holiday destinations - from UK airports - for 2010.
The data was compiled from the last quarter of 2009 when the majority of holidays are being planned for 2010 and provides an interesting insight into where the British plan to holiday this year. It is hoped a good number of visitors will go onto purchase property in Turkey.
Bodrum (BJV) ranked 15th and Dalaman (DLM) 5th over increasingly less popular Spanish destinations such as; Palma, Lanzarote, Gran Canaria, Barcelona, Murcia, Ibiza, Fuerteventura and Madrid - a number of which plummeted down the rankings.
Thomas Cook, TUI and easyJet have already announced increases to their services to Bodrum and Dalaman for 2010 to cater for the growth in demand.
Favourite Italian destinations such as Rome, Venice and Milan also saw their rankings slip.
Bodrum and Dalaman polled higher positions than even the most traditional European holiday destinations such as Faro (Portugal), Geneva (Switzerland), Paris and Nice (France), Amsterdam (Holland), Dublin (Ireland), Prague (Czech Rep.), Berlin and Munich (Germany), Salzburg (Austria), Crete (Greece) and Sofia (Bulgaria).
A major contributory factor could well be the strength of the Euro against the pound where the British in particular, when contrasted against their European counterparts, enjoy a beneficial rate when exchanging their pounds for Turkish Liras – more than doubling their money.
Turkey significantly attracted more interest as a holiday destination than Cyprus, Egypt, Morocco, Dubai and Malta.
Further afield, again Bodrum and Dalaman attracted more interest than New York and Las Vegas (USA), Bangkok (Thailand) and Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia).
Orlando however, polled 4th position and is one the highest climbers compared to the same period last year, up 12 places. Travel Editor Sam Baldwin comments: “The rise in popularity of Orlando is primarily due to the new Harry Potter theme park opening in the spring. Other big movers include Johannesburg and Cape Town as the World Cup is just around the corner”. The top 3 positions remained unchanged.
Turkey emerged as a clearly favoured holiday destination for 2010 and is certainly continuing to build on its growing reputation as a cost effective alternative to traditional Spanish destinations.
Cumberland Properties can endorse these findings having already sold 2 properties at Woodland Regency in the first week of January 2010 and are currently experiencing a significant increase, over the same period last year, in enquiries for both property in Bodrum and rentals in Bodrum, having already secured a number of reservations for the ever popular Seaview Regency Prestige
Oh, and should you have the good fortune to be holidaying in Turkey during the world cup; fans of the beautiful game will be relieved to hear that their enthusiasm is shared by most Turks, so rest assured you won’t have to travel to far to find superb coverage of the event.
Source: Skyscanner