Costas back in fashion

The British love affair with Spain is back, according to flight comparison site Skyscanner, while Brits are using the long Easter holiday to escape royal wedding mania.

Searches for Tenerife, Malaga and Alicante have all shown significant rises compared to Easter last year – they are the top three searched-for destinations - while London doesn’t even appear in the top ten most searched for cities.

Skyscanner says Tenerife is now the second most sought for destination on the site, jumping up 21 places from last Easter.

The figures also suggest that Brits are making the most of the eleven day break (if they book three days’ holiday) to go mulberry sale further afield, with mid-haul destinations like New York and Istanbul the fourth and fifth most searched for destinations.

In turn, city breaks have suffered. Although Amsterdam and Barcelona are still in the top ten, both dropped four places compared to last Easter. Rome dropped two places to ninth position, and Paris, Dublin and London dropped out of the top ten altogether.
Skyscanner chief executive officer Gareth Williams said: “Malaga and Alicante remain immensely popular with the British, but it also looks as though people are taking advantage of the extra Royal Wedding holiday and going a little further afield this Easter with Tenerife, New York and Istanbul all up considerably compared to last year.

“This has come at the expense of city break destinations which have all mulberry bags dropped significantly this Easter. The fact that London doesn’t even appear in this year’s top ten certainly seems to suggest that many Brits are trying to escape the hype around the Royal Wedding ”.