Barometer Mondial Assistance reveals the names of the summer holiday destinations that European air travellers prefer the most
• This summer, two thirds of all Europeans who will travel by air to reach their summer holiday destinations will go to Spain, Italy, France and the U.K.
• In 2009, and despite the crisis, Europeans who travel by air will maintain their holiday habits and in general return to the same destinations that they visited in 2008.
Paris, June 9th 2009: For the second consecutive year, Mondial Assistance revealed the preferred summer holiday destinations for Europeans travelling by air. This ranking is based on an analysis of over 361,000 travel insurance policies subscribed to on the Internet sites of European airline companies, clients of Mondial Assistance, for flights scheduled between July 1st and August 31st 2009.
“Several dozen of Internet sites of airline companies, tour operators, and online travel agents use e-Magin, our e-commerce platform, to propose travel insurance contracts to their customers. The data gathered in real time provides us with a very precise look at the destination choices that Europeans make at the time they are preparing to leave for this year’s summer holidays. Despite the crisis, European holiday air travellers will change little in their habits this year compared to 2008,” declares Erick Morazin, International Sales Director for Mondial Assistance.
For 66% of Europeans, no dethroning of the indomitable four
25% of Europeans who will travel by air this summer will go to Spain, 17% to Italy, 15% to
the U.K. and 9% to France. The ranking remains stable compared to the first wave of the Mondial Assistance Barometer for the summer of 2008. Overall, these four countries attract two thirds (66%) of all Europeans.
With 4% of departures, Portugal and Ireland are competing for the ranking’s 5th place. They are followed by Germany (3%), and Greece. Morocco and the United-States (each 2%) insure a place in the Top 10 for the American and African continents.
The average holiday: 10 days
Holidays last an average of ten days. The French leave for the longest period (13 days on average). The British only go abroad for 8 days. The Dutch, with 12 days, are also above average; the Germans and Polish leave for 11 days, while the Spanish and Irish take 10-day holidays.
Favourite Destinations vary according to country
- The French still prefer France (22%) and Southern Europe (Spain 13% and Italy 12%).
- The Germans prefer Spain at 31%. Italy and the U.K. both attract 13% of German air travellers.
- The Polish mostly travel to the UK (46%). 18% of them remain in Poland, 15% visit Ireland and 13% go to Spain. Italy only attracts 3% of Polish holiday travellers this year compared to 15% last summer.
- As in 2008, one third, or 36%, of all Spanish summer holiday air travellers remain in Spain. 21% will travel to the U.K. and 14% to Italy.
- The Dutch continue to travel in great numbers to Spain. They will be 35% this year to visit Spain vs. 27% in 2008. Italy, which attracts 19% of Dutch holiday air travellers, remains a stable destination, while France at 8% displaces the U.K. and takes over third place.
- 30% of all British summer air travellers still go to Spain. (31.7% in 2008). They are also more numerous this year (18%) to remain in the UK (14.1% in 2008). And, like last summer, 11% will visit France.
- More and more Irish are travelling to Spain (28% in 2009 vs. 21.1% in 2008). This summer they will abandon Poland (19% in 2008) and the U.S. (9% in 2008) in favourof the U.K. (13%), France (9%) and Portugal (8%).
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Tel.: 00 1 53 25 53 65
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