• Fly to Lisbon and Berlin at half the price
• 8 out of 10 travellers want to discover new places
• Interest in emerging destinations up 127% in the last year
Data provided by the online travel company, Skyscanner, show that 95% of Spaniards intend to travel more. When it comes to choosing a holiday destination, 44% say that the price of flights is the reason for their choice, while 43% opt for a holiday destination based on touristic interest.
Cheaper places compared to 2018
Skyscanner recommends alternative destinations at the beginning of this year that are not so crowded with touristsand with more affordable flights compared to 2018 and 2019. The price of flying to Lisbon has fallen by 67%, so it’s no surprise that the Portuguese capital leads the ranking of destinations that are cheaper to travel in 2020 together with Berlin (-51%)
Flying to these two cities now costs less than half the price. The two European capitals are followed by Bristol (-48%), Valencia (-47%), Athens (-45%), Dublin (-40%) and Rome (-40%), all with discounts of more than 40%. New York (-38%), Frankfurt (-37%) and Los Angeles (-33%) close the list, with average flight prices ranging from €138 to €620.
Emerging destination
More and more travellers are open to discovering new destinations. The results of the survey show that 8 out of 10 respondents are very keen to visit new places, compared to the 5% who prefer city breaks in places where they have some reference*.16% say they know where they want to travel and that emerging destinations could be an interesting alternative for many people who are unsure about where they want to go in 2020.
Skyscanner produced a list of the 10 emerging long and short distance destinations, where demand increased significantly in 2019.
Vienna is the European city that has generated the most interest in recent months: 127% more than in 2018. Nantes and Bordeaux, both in France, also appear on the list with increases of between 34 and 51%, along with Cagliari, Istanbul, and other transoceanic cities like Medellin, Washington, Guayaquil, Chicago and Mexico City.
When to travel to the most fashionable cities
Skyscanner shows the 10 favourite cities for Spanish travellers who want to visit the most fashionable cities: New York, London, Madrid, Barcelona, Palma, Buenos Aires, Bangkok, Paris, Tenerife and Rome. New York, the city of skyscrapers, tops the ranking, up two places from last year, when London, now in second place, was the preferred option for Spaniards. Madrid also dropped one place, while Barcelona and Palma remain in fourth and fifth place. Buenos Aires and Bangkok climb two places, Paris drops two and Tenerife moves up one place. Rome, a new entry in the top 10 favourite destinations, closes the ranking in tenth place.
While in principle they’re not the cheapest or where fewer people travel to, Skyscanner has tried to simplify how we manage our travels by adding the Best moment to book flights option for travellers, so you can see when its cheapest to visit each of the ten destinations on the list. November and January are the best times to fly to New York, London, Paris, Tenerife and Rome, with discounts of as much as 27%; February and March are the best times to visit Bangkok and Buenos Aires, and May is the best month for domestic flights from Madrid, Barcelona and Palma.
Ruma Cummins, Skyscanners’ PR and Comms Manager says: “As far as Spain is concerned as a tourist receiving country, I’ve seen that it currently occupies the third place in the data of the most popular destinations in the world, behind the U.S. and Japan, and ahead of Thailand, the United Kingdom and Italy.”
64% of travellers currently book their flights through the Skyscanner app or on their smartphone instead of on a desktop, showing a significant change in how travellers manage their travels.
Tips for booking flights at the best prices
• Search for flights to any location: If you can’t decide where to travel, put ‘everywhere’ in the destination field and you’ll find the cheapest flights to new destinations on the dates you want to travel.
• Search the calendar: Use the Skyscanner calendar if you know where you want to travel and are flexible with the dates. At a quick glance, you’ll know which month and days are the cheapest to fly.
• Set up alerts: Many travellers check the prices of the flights they want to buy every day to see if the price goes up or down. By using Skyscanner’s app and smart web-based tool, you can opt for a price alert service which allows you to track the cost and book your flights at the cheapest time.
• Check prices at nearby airports: Skyscanner recommends clicking the option for nearby airports and looking at different options for starting your trip, as there can be a big difference in prices between airports
