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:
- Phuket
- Mauritius
- Goa
- Maldives
- 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:
- Dubai
- Abu Dhabi
- Bangkok
- Las Vegas
- 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:
- Vietnam (+22%)
- Myanmar (+15%)
- 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.”
Vietnam is amazing!!!!!