Colin Firth’s Super Trooper and Pierce Brosnan’s licence to thrill in Mama Mia have failed to convince the country to go Greek this summer.
 
The latest stats from Cheapflights.co.uk reveal Greek destinations have been falling off the charts despite being the location of the blockbuster movie.
 
Athens saw a 68 per cent* drop in year on year searches and popular destinations such as Corfu and Rhodes also experienced a significant decline.
 
Back in April, Cheapflights.co.uk, the UK’s leading flight price comparison website, found that non-Euro zone destinations were growing in popularity due to a poor Euro exchange rate against the Pound. 
 
Figures also highlighted that Greek destinations had dropped in position compared with a significant rise in searches to Turkey. 
 
Following on from April’s findings, the site has run an update in search patterns based on its own viewers.  New results demonstrate that despite current economic instabilities, old favourites within the Euro zone maintain their strength while searches to non-Euro zone destinations also continue to gain in popularity. 
 
Having released its Top 10 holiday destinations chart for the period of 1st May – 30th June 2008, Cheapflights found that Spanish destinations are currently heating up the charts by 40 per cent more than any other.  Tenerife has experienced a significant 23 per cent increase in searches since 2006, currently topping the chart in first place.     
 
Top 10 Holiday Destinations for the period of 1st May – 30th June 2008
 
1.    Tenerife
2.    Orlando
3.    Alicante
4.    Malaga
5.    Bangkok
6.    Dubai
7.    Paphos
8.    Dalaman
9.    Faro
10.  Majorca
 
Alternative Spanish contenders include Alicante in third place along with Malaga in fourth and Majorca finishing off in tenth.  Other Euro zone favourites for this year consist of Faro in ninth place and Paphos in seventh, which has seen an 18 per cent increase in searches.
 
However, although a significant number of holiday makers are playing it safe by keeping close to home, some are skipping the Euro zone in favour of more distant shores.  Long haul destinations like Orlando are sitting pretty at a strong second for 2008 and Cheapflights has seen a massive 60 per cent increase in searches to the destination, no doubt caused by a strong Pound against the Dollar.  Bangkok enjoys a fine fifth for the second year running, followed by Dubai in sixth position for this year compared with both 2006 and 2007 where it didn’t even appear in the Top 10 for the same search period.

Cheapflights.co.uk’s travel expert, Nadine Hallak comments in saying: “All in all, although it may appear that our users are sticking to their old habits, our April findings are still reflected in the current search patterns, which are showing a slant towards non-Euro zone destinations.  Although Spain still remains a favourite despite the poor exchange rate between Euro and Sterling, it would appear that on the whole, consumers are taking interest in more exotic destinations such as Turkey, Dubai and the US.  That said, it’s too early to say with certainty what the end result will be for the whole of the summer, so watch this space as we’ll be running our final update in September.”


* All percentages referred to in this article are based on statistics produced by page views