European travelers opt for city breaks in early-Easter year

• Paris ranked top destination for European travelers, followed by Orlando and New York
• Overall bookings from European source market register moderate growth¹
• Domestic tourism boom for Spain,  representing 71% of total bookings

Palma, 22March 2018 – Hotelbeds Group, the leading bedbank worldwide and business-to-business provider of services to the travel industry globally, has published today European source market bookings for the Easter period measured by room nights for its bedbank brands – including Hotelbeds, Bedsonline, Tourico Holidays, and GTA.

The Group has seen a marked trend for city breaks by European travelers this early-Easter year. Paris ranks first destination for European visitors, followed by Orlando, New York, Rome and London. Asia’s most preferred destinations for Europeans are Bangkok, Singapore, Hong Kong, Bali and Tokyo. Meanwhile, traditional sun & beach European locations such as Mallorca, Algarve or the Canaries have fallen in the rankings of the most popular destinations this Easter holidays.

Overall bookings from European travelers have registered moderate growth compared to the Easter period last year, with Spain as the source market with the highest growth.

Although Paris is the top destination for Spaniards – and also Europeans – for this Easter holiday, Spaniards are more likely than any other nationality to stay in their own country; in fact 71% of Spaniards will travel internally this year, a figure that has raised by 7 percentage points since last Easter.

The favorite domestic destinations for Spaniards are cities such as Madrid or Barcelona, and leisure spots like Tenerife, Mallorca or Benidorm. By contrast Germans prefer traveling to the rest of Europe or even long-haul locations like the USA or Thailand. Britons follow the same trend, but also prefer international holiday spots such as Orlando or New York.

Commenting on this Easter´s travel trends, Carlos Muñoz, Managing Director Bedbank, Hotelbeds Group, said “This year Easter falls particularly early. It was mainly skiers who used to benefit from such an early timing, but this year the great winners are city destinations. More and more European travelers prefer to spend their holidays in European and North American cities. Holidaymakers are also prepared to travel further afield, with some Asian destinations seeing an increase in bookings. We believe this reflects a positive economic trend and a high level of confidence in travelling, which bodes well for this summer´s bookings.

“Although this early Easter has a slight impact on leisure destinations, Europeans are more likely to travel this spring holidays compared to Easter last year. Domestic tourism will enjoy another strong year in Spain, with 71% of Spaniards who are taking break doing so in Spain.”

–1-All figures quoted in this press release refer to bookings measured by room nights made via the Hotelbeds Group´s bedbank platform – including the brands Hotelbeds, Bedsonline, GTA, and Tourico Holidays – from European source markets (including the UK) for the period surrounding Easter.