Turkey and Egypt returned to their previous positions as top-selling summer destinations last week after spending most of the season to date outside the top five from the UK.
Spain, Greece, Cyprus and even Italy have boomed so far for summer 2011 and latest figures from industry analyst GfK Ascent show Spain still top for volume in the week to last Saturday (March 5). But Turkey is back at number two for the first time this year and Egypt at number four.
Greece and Cyprus remained in the top five destinations for sales in what promises to be good year for traditional Mediterranean destinations – at least so far.
But GfK Ascent recorded more than 5,000 summer 2011 bookings for Egypt last week and more than 2,000 for Tunisia.
Price reductions appear to have been a factor in stimulating bookings to Egypt. GfK Ascent reported the average price to Egypt down by £128 per person on the corresponding week a year ago. Average prices to Tunisia were down by £74 per person on last year.
GfK Ascent managing director Sarah Smalley said: “We saw a challenging week last week and some pricing decisions to stimulate bookings. The coming weeks’ performance will be key to assessing whether such tactical decisions are effective.”
The top volume destinations in the week to March 5 were:
- Spain
- Turkey
- Greece
- Egypt
- Cyprus
The top-five destinations showing the most growth against the same week last year were the Balearics, the Canaries, mainland Spain, Mexico and France.