Report by John Lavabre
PARIS, Amsterdam and Barcelona have retained their respective
positions as the top thee city breaks sold by Crystal Holidays during the year 2000.
Barcelona performed particularly well in the Crystal Cities
top 20 league. It saw an 18% increase in sales, although this was not enough to
push it into second place.
Rome, last year’s number six, knocked New York from fourth
position into fifth. Rome’s success has been put down to its year-long
Millennium celebrations.
Entering the charts for the first time were Munich in
sixteenth place and Verona at nineteenth. Copenhagen reappeared in the charts
at number 20 following a year’s absence.
Vienna, however, dropped three places to thirteenth. Crystal
has put this down to adverse publicity about the country’s political situation.
Crystal Cities product director Alan Betty said: “It was a
year of mixed fortunes which demonstrated how influential low cost and
convenient travel, feasts and festivals can be to a destination, and how
adverse publicity can cause a long-term decline. Overall the market for city
breaks was again very buoyant.”