With the summer in full swing, Trip.com has revealed the most popular destinations among its customers as one of the busiest days of the year for travel approaches. best summer vacation spots

22 July looks set to be a bumper day for travel with data from the leading global travel service provider suggesting it will be Britain’s busiest so far.

According to Trip.com, British holidaymakers continue to favour short-haul European trips, with nine out of the ten most popular destinations being in Europe.

The only long-haul destination to make the list was Bangkok, as travellers flock back to Thailand – one of the few Asian countries to drop most Covid entry restrictions.

Trip.com data shows that demand from UK travellers for short-haul travel is two and a half times higher than for long-haul flights. Whereas across the whole of Europe, the increase in short-haul summer bookings is a staggering 27 times higher than for long-haul.

Data reveals that Spain has remained a popular choice for holidaying Brits for post-Covid travel, with three Spanish destinations – Barcelona, Madrid and Palma de Mallorca – making the top 10.

Midweek is the most popular time to plan a holiday with Trip.com data showing Tuesday through Thursday are the peak days for browsing flights and hotels. Wednesday is the most popular day overall for flight searches, with Saturday being the least busy.

Andy Washington, Trip.com Group General Manager for Europe, said: “As school summer holidays are now upon us, here at Trip.com we have analysed the popularity of destinations among our customers.

“Interestingly, our data shows that the majority of Trip.com customers are travelling to short-haul destinations rather than travelling further afield, while staycations also remain a firm favourite.

“We are really pleased to see the European travel market rebounding from the pandemic so quickly, and look forward to continuing our expansion within the UK and Europe over the coming months.” best summer vacation spots

When it comes to trip length, the figures reveal some surprising insights with European customers travelling for longer during 2020 than they did before the pandemic. The average trip length in June 2019 was 6.2 days, rising to 8.8 in 2020 and back down to 6.6 in June 2022.

Global travel service provider Trip.com has seen an influx of bookings from the UK for domestic trips, with London taking the top spot for the most popular destination, followed closely by Manchester. Dublin, within the Common Travel Area, was also a favourite coming in fifth place.

The rising popularity of UK domestic flights has been shown to be nearly three times higher this month than the same month last year.

There is a similar picture across the continent, with Trip.com’s key European markets again favouring trips to the United Kingdom – giving hope to the inbound tourism industry.

For those European travellers heading off on 22 July, London is the favourite destination, followed once again by Manchester.

A strong desire for short-haul city breaks is also evident among European travellers, with key EU cities such as Paris, Athens, Milan, Barcelona, Madrid and Dublin being top favourites.

Thailand’s continuing appeal to European travellers remains high, with Bangkok being the third most popular destination on 22 July. This highlights the appetite for Asian travel, following the relaxation of travel restrictions.

Trip.com is currently seeing a monthly 10% surge in bookings for its core European markets, showing the ongoing recovery for the travel and tourism sector.

Trip.com is nominated as Asia’s Leading Online Travel Agency 2021 by World Travel Awards.