Where is the No1 long-haul hotspot for Brits?

long-haul hotspot

If you want to follow the crowd then head to Thailand. It’s the No1 long-haul hotspot for Brits this year.

Long haul travel company Southall Travel has revealed Phuket, above, as the most popular long-haul beach holiday destination, with Vietnam named the fastest growing long-haul destination for British travellers.

The sun-kissed Thai island of Phuket, in the Andaman Sea is closely followed by Mauritius.

Goa is the third most popular long-haul beach spot with the Maldives coming in fourth and the Indonesian island of Bali fifth.

Top five most popular long haul beach holiday destinations in 2017:

  1. Phuket
  2. Mauritius
  3. Goa
  4. Maldives
  5. Bali

Long-haul city breaks

The UAE is proving a popular city break destination with Dubai and Abu Dhabi taking the top two spots followed by the Thai capital of Bangkok.

The fun-packed city of Las Vegas comes in fourth followed by the Malaysian capital of Kuala Lumpur.

Top five most popular long haul city break destinations in 2017:

  1. Dubai
  2. Abu Dhabi
  3. Bangkok
  4. Las Vegas
  5. Kuala Lumpur

The research also revealed those destinations showing the biggest year on year increase in bookings this year with Vietnam the fastest growing.

Vietnam, tipped by many to become a major hot spot for British holidaymakers, has seen a dramatic increase in bookings this year compared to last with sales up 22%.

Southall Travel has also seen a significant increase in booking of holidays to Myanmar (Burma) with bookings up 15% on the previous year.

Chile is also up and coming and with British Airways launching direct flights to the capital earlier this year, bookings are 12% up on the previous year.

Rising stars of 2017:

  1. Vietnam (+22%)
  2. Myanmar (+15%)
  3. Chile (+12%)

Southall Travel has also seen a significant rise in the sale of holidays to the Indonesian island of Bali with bookings in April up 39% on the same time last year.

Sales director Jaymin Borkhatria says: “For many years, Thailand has been a popular long-haul beach holiday destination amongst British holidaymakers and this year it has become our biggest seller. The launch of direct flights to destinations such as Vietnam and Chile have had a very positive effect on the demand for holidays in those destinations and we expect those numbers to grow over the coming months.”