Isle of Man travel agency Richmond and Mann Link Travel have revealed the top 10 most popular holiday destinations islanders travelled to in 2016 based on booking figures. Excluding the UK the top destination was Spain, followed by Italy Portugal and the USA:
1) UK
2) Spain
3) Italy
4) Portugal
5) USA
6) Greece
7) Australia
8) Republic of Ireland
9) Germany
10) France
11) Croatia
Overall Europe remains the most popular place for local residents to spend their holidays however there has also been a healthy number of bookings to USA too. This mirrors the UK where Spain was the most popular destination with over 4.2m UK passengers last year according to industry figures, followed by the Balearic Islands, Canary Islands and Greece.
In 2017 Mann Link and Richmond Travel predict a rise in bookings to longer haul destinations St Lucia, New Zealand, Malaysia and Indonesia as well as closer to home Spain’s Costa Almeria which has been added as a new destination by Jet2 airlines last year.
Areas such as the Black Sea and North Africa which were once popular holiday destinations are no longer feasible, which has contributed to the demise of a number of smaller operators. Following recent news of the collapse of Lowcostholidays and Cruise Operator All Leisure Group which owns Voyages of Discovery and Swan Hellenic, there is an emerging risk amongst smaller niche operators in the travel sector. Many have struggled against the fall in the value of the pound, exchange rates, operating cost increases and geo-political upset.
Travellers don’t necessarily have to avoid smaller operators as long as their booking is ATOL protected and ABTA bonded. Mann Link Travel Chairman Brian Kelly advised.
“Start off in safe hands by booking through a travel agent or operator that is a member of ABTA. This means customers are financially protected in the case of company collapse” commented Kelly.
ATOL provides cover for flight-based packages. Every UK travel company which sells air holidays and flights is required to hold an ATOL, which stands for Air Travel Organiser’s Licence.
“Travellers can check if their holiday is protected by looking for the ATOL logo in travel company’s brochures, literature, adverts and websites” added Kelly.
Booking with Mann Link and Richmond Travel gives customers peace of mind. The company is financially sound and has the highest credit rating possible via business rating agency Dun & Bradstreet. The growing business has also managed to buck the market trend by introducing a new online travel ecommerce website “Escape the Rock” which launched in the last quarter of 2016.
EscapetheRock.im enables residents to search and book off-island holidays in one simple step.
“Customers are searching for holidays 24/7 and want the convenience of booking online whilst still getting peace of mind that they can visit a local branch should they need to” added Kelly. “The website is an online extension of our travel shops and includes the same ATOL and ABTA protection for customers”.
Image - Isle of Man map. Copyright Shuttershock.
