Opodo polled 10,000 customers across the UK, Europe and the US in July, including 2,000 in the UK. While the top 10 booking destinations for British respondents during 2021 were all short-haul, six of the top 10 search destinations for travel in 2022 were long-haul.
The list was topped by Orlando, followed by New York, Bangkok and Dubai. Sydney and Tokyo took seventh and eighth places respectively.
Opodo said that “while bookings were resolutely short-haul, British respondents continued to dream of further horizons, with regular favourites Dubai, New York and Istanbul making it into the top 10 most-searched-for destinations”.
Dublin, Barcelona and Lisbon were the most popular destinations for British respondents this year, followed by Alicante, Bucharest, Malaga, Faro and Palma. Overwhelmingly, prices were lower than the previous year, with the top nine destinations booked in 2021 all experiencing a price drop averaging 31%.
Pablo Caspers, chief travel officer of eDreams ODIGEO, Opodo’s parent company, said: “Since the beginning of 2021 we have seen that the desire to travel has never disappeared – search data shows our customers have continued to dream and plan ahead despite travel restrictions.
“Bookings continued to increase as vaccination programmes progressed, and today we have really encouraging figures. From June to August our figures have been above pre-Covid levels and during our Prime days in October we experienced record bookings.”
Opodo added booking windows had decreased dramatically this year. “With uncertainty still at the forefront of travel decisions, long-term planning was replaced by last-minute action, with the majority of travellers in all markets (36%) choosing to book within a two-week window of departure.”
