Europe is the top long-haul destination for travelers this summer, according to a new study by Travelport. The region accounts for the top three most popular long-haul summer travel destinations this year: Great Britain, Italy and France.
Travelport defined long-haul trips as flights taking six hours or more to reach their destinations, and the company based its analysis on advance flight bookings made for travel from the United States to final destinations between May 27 and August 26, 2019, as of June 14, 2019. Countries visited by means of stopovers are not recognized, Travelport noted.
The full list of top 10 long-haul summer travel destinations is:
- Great Britain
- Italy
- France
- China
- India
- Spain
- Germany
- Japan
- Philippines
- Ireland
As of June 14, more than 550,000 bookings have been made in the U.S. through all global distribution systems for return flights to Great Britain during the period of the study, Travelport said. Flight bookings to second placed Italy stood at 433,399, up by 20,154 (+3.7%) compared to the same period in 2018, while the third most popular destination, France, had registered more than 300,000 flight bookings this year, up by 19,735 (+6.7%).
With flight bookings up by 29,388 (12.1%) year-on-year, Spain was the fastest- growing top ten destination for U.S. travelers compared to the same period the previous year, according to Travelport.
“With a favorable exchange rate, a variety of landscapes and heritage, all close by, it isn’t a surprise to see Britain as a top long-haul attractive destination,” said Simon Ferguson, Travelport’s president and managing director for the Americas, in a written statement. “I definitely expect this trend to continue in the years to come as more people recognize just how much the country has to offer tourists.”