Brits head for sunnier climes

Traditional romantic destinations including the Maldives, Kenya and Thailand have seen a massive surge in bookings as families and friends flock to these far-flung locations for summer.

The Maldives has seen a 34% increase year on year this summer and Thailand and particularly packages to the island of Phuket are also proving very popular, whilst Kenya is also one of the long haul best sellers. These exotic and exclusive destinations are opening up to a wider market as their economy increasingly rely on tourism. Customers are now able to book good value for money four and five star packages to destinations that they would never have thought of before.

Further the strength of the pound against the dollar means city breaks to New York, San Francisco and Las Vegas, usually winter favourites, are also doing really well this summer with bookings up 50%.

New destinations have also emerged this year including China with Beijing and Shanghai doing particularly well. Cape Verde and Eastern European countries such as Latvia, Slovenia, Lithuania and Poland are also hot on the list for holidaymakers.

Closer to home, Turkey is now once again amongst lastminute.com’s best selling destinations. Turkey has made it back into the travel agent’s top five destinations beating Italy and Portugal with a record 33% increase in bookings. lastminute.com has also witnessed the rise of sweltering hot Greece, which for the first time in twelve months has overtaken bestselling Egypt in the pole position.

John Bevan Managing Director at lastminute.com UK commented: “ We are seeing some really interesting shifts in trends this year where our customers are abandoning the traditional resorts in favour of more exotic and far flung locations. This is probably due to a desire for more luxury and the great value for money that we have for places such as the Maldives, the low fares and the weakness of the dollar for the States and the increased publicity for destinations such as China. Holiday-makers are more and more adventurous and want to see how far their money can take them.”

For more information and bookings, visit Lastminute.com.