New year, new travel plans. Where are Britons headed in 2024? YouGov DestinationIndex is a tool that tracks consumer attitudes towards different travel destinations across 16 different metrics. Purchase Intent measures how likely consumers are to choose a destination the next time they plan a trip. Below are the top destinations chosen by adult Britons, as measured in the last 30 days.
Domestic holidays are the most popular among Britons, with 17% saying they’re most likely to visit somewhere in the UK. However, this is followed closely by Spain, which was the top destination at this time last year.
Continental tours are also calling to UK consumers, with European destinations making up seven of the top 10 destinations. After Spain, a clear leader among foreign destinations, Greece and Italy were selected by 8% each as their most likely visit. New York City is the only destination on the list smaller than a country, with 3%. Another 6% say they’re most likely to visit the USA.
Why are these destinations so popular?
The UK’s popularity as a destination may have more to do with convenience than desire.
Value is another net score which represents how many consumers believe the destination represents good versus bad value for money. Even though many Britons choose the UK as a travel destination, they grant it a relatively low Value score of 8. This is less than a third of Greece’s value score (25) and just over a quarter of Spain’s (31)
Britons also have the worst overall feelings about their home country compared to the others.
Impression measures the general positive or negative feelings associated with a destination. The UK’s impression score is 41. Respondents feel moderately better about Greece (45) and best about Spain (54).
Despite these grumbles, the UK does quite well on the Satisfaction metric. Nearly as many Britons (53) say they are satisfied visitors of the UK as of Spain (55). Greece, which may attract fewer overall visitors, scored 34.2 on this metric.
Spain also leads in Quality, with a score of 27 compared to 24 for the UK and 22 for Greece.
More Britons plan to visit the UK, Spain, and Greece than any other destination tracked by YouGov.
While Britons have comparable perceptions of the quality of these three destinations, they set them apart on other metrics.
For example, Britons have less positive feeling towards their home country than either Spain or Greece.
They also rate continental destinations as providing far better value for money.
And, tourist bookings to the Balearics have risen by 20.6% in the last seven days compared to the same period last year, although they have experienced a decrease of 15.4% compared to the previous week, according to the balance of the booking platform TravelgateX.
The platform highlights the significant growth in tourism in Spain, driven by the regions of Catalonia and Madrid.
Over the last week, Catalonia has seen an increase in bookings of 7.1 % over the previous period and a notable year-on-year increase of 61.9 %. Madrid is close behind with an increase of 11.3%.
Advance bookings of more than three months in advance prevailed with 36.23 %, evidencing the planning trend in tourism.
Couples lead the demand with 47.88 % of bookings, mostly for stays of 2 to 5 nights. Domestic interest remains strong, with Spaniards making more than half of the bookings (54.7%) to domestic destinations.
These data reflect a growing optimism in the tourism sector and the solid position of Catalonia and Madrid as dominant preferences for travellers, according to TravelgateX.