Spain has dislodged Britain at the top of UK consumers’ holiday plans, according to a new daily Destination Index launched by YouGov, as both the UK domestic and outbound markets ready to restart.
Research and data analytics company YouGov launched the Destination Index today showing Spain as the first choice for a holiday among UK adults at this moment, followed by the UK, Portugal, France and Italy.
The Index has tracked UK public perceptions of almost 40 destinations each day in advance of travel’s restart, asking a rolling daily sample of UK adults, ‘When you are next in the market to plan a holiday, which destination are you most likely to visit?’
The results go to produce an Intent metric, producing a top-five ranking over 30 days to the end of June.
This shows the rankings changed over the course of June, with the UK only losing the number-one spot in the past few days as the government announced plans for a quarantine-free Covid travel list of countries.
The proportion intending to travel to Spain rose steadily from June 20, and the proportion planning a trip to Portugal almost doubled over the same period.
At the same time, intent to travel to Florida fell by 25% as Covid-19 cases spiked in the US state.
The YouGov Destination Index tracks public opinion daily on 120 destinations in 25 leading source markets, using 16 different metrics.
It aims to provide travel marketers with daily insights into perceptions of a destination and its competitors and into post-lockdown tourist habits
YouGov says the Index can be used to rank a destination’s prestige and perception of quality and value, and the impact of events.
It can explore audience preferences, evaluate marketing campaigns, track visitor trends, profile travellers and forecast spending, with data filtered to examine different audience segments – as a snapshot or tracked over time.
YouGov chief executive Stephan Shakespeare said: “Tourism has taken a battering. We can help by putting daily data in the hands of marketers as the industry tries to bounce back.”
The Index showed the top-five prospective destinations for UK holidaymakers to be:
Rank Destination % population
1 Spain 17%
2 UK 16%
3 Portugal 8%
4 France 6%
5 Italy 6%
A YouGov spokesman said: “This data will change day by day as news emerges on the accessibility of countries post-Covid.
“But while Spain has come through strongly as a destination of choice over the past week, the public are still being pretty discerning about where they are prepared to travel to under the current circumstances.
“The picture is not so rosy for France or Italy, but that too may change as the perceptions of holiday-makers adjust to the new realities of travel.”
The YouGov DestinationIndex covers the UK, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Denmark, Finland, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland, the US, Canada, Mexico, Brazil, China, Japan, Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, the Philippines, Australia, the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Egypt and India.
For more information visit YouGov or contact james.stibbs@yougov.com