2017 long-haul holiday travel trends from Southall Travel

Booking data at leading long haul travel company Southall Travel has revealed Phuket as the most popular long-haul beach holiday destination this year, with Vietnam named the fastest growing long-haul destination for British travellers. The sun-kissed Thai island of Phuket, located in the Andaman Sea is the most popular long-haul destination for sun-seeking Britons this year, closely followed by Mauritius.

According to booking data, Goa is the third most popular long-haul beach spot this year, with the Maldives and the Indonesian island of Bali the fourth and fifth most popular respectively.

Top five most popular long haul beach holiday destinations in 2017:

• Phuket
• Mauritius
• Goa
• Maldives
• Bali

Long-haul city breaks
The UAE is proving popular a city break destination this year with Dubai and Abu Dhabi taking the top two spots followed by the Thai capital of Bangkok.

Booking data at Southall Travel also reveals the fun-packed city of Las Vegas as the fourth most popular long-haul city break destination followed by the Malaysian capital of Kuala Lumpur.

Top five most popular long haul city break destinations in 2017:

• Dubai
• Abu Dhabi
• Bangkok
• Las Vegas
• Kuala Lumpur

Rising stars of 2017
The research also revealed those destinations showing the biggest year on year increase in bookings this year with Vietnam the fastest growing destination overall.

Vietnam, which has been tipped by many to become a major hot spot for British holidaymakers has seen a dramatic increase in bookings this year compared to last with sales up 22%.

Southall Travel has also seen a significant increase in booking of holidays to Myanmar (Burma) with bookings up 15% on the previous year.

Chile is also fast becoming a major tourist destination for British travellers and with British Airways launching direct flights to the capital earlier this year, bookings are 12% up on the previous year.

Rising stars of 2017:

• Vietnam (+22%)
• Myanmar (+15%)
• Chile (+12%)

Southall Travel has also seen a significant rise in the sale of holidays to the Indonesian island of Bali with bookings in April up 39% on the same time last year.

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