Brazil Carnical
The beachside resort of Buzios in Brazil and the Lebanese capital of Beirut are top of the wish list for British travellers in 2011.
Based on hotel searches made on Hotels.com’s UK site between 1 and 22 December, South America is one of the places British travellers fancy in 2011 with searches for Buzios soaring by 330% compared to the same period in 2009 and accommodation in Cusco, Peru seeing a 191% increase in hits.
They also saw a surge in interest in India’s southern state of Kerala with searches up by 300%, whilst the Mexico Tourism Board’s predictions for a bumper 2011 were reflected in searches for hotels in the Mayan Rivera increasing by 191%.
The popular city break destinations of Marrakech and Cape Town are also riding high on their 2010 popularity, fuelled by the Sex and the City 2 filming in the Moroccan capital and the global focus on South Africa during the World Cup, with searches up by 165% and 161% respectively.
An interest in new and emerging city break destinations is also on the rise with Beirut experiencing a 115% increase in searches. The Lebanese capital is one to watch in 2011, thanks largely to an influx of new boutique hotels and the launch of a second daily direct British Midland International (bmi) flight from the UK.
Alison Couper of Hotels.com commented “Our research reveals a more independent explorative streak from British travellers for 2011, with some lesser known destinations clearly on the wish list of Hotels.com customers.
We have seen a surge of interest in Mexico, confirming predictions that it could be a real hotspot next year, along with South America, India and Lebanon. A World Cup factor could also still be at play with holidaymakers also looking at Cape Town in South Africa.
Value is clearly still a key concern with many of the most widely searched destinations offering some very competitive hotel rates.”
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