US tourists flocking to the UK, Expedia data shows

Americans are booking more holidays to Britain according to search data from Expedia, which shows a 45% increase on last year during peak summer months. The online travel company analysed its data to find the rise for searches in the … Continue reading →

Americans are booking more holidays to Britain according to search data from Expedia, which shows a 45% increase on last year during peak summer months.

The online travel company analysed its data to find the rise for searches in the first four months of this year for the two-week period between July 29 and August 12 2017 compared to the same fortnight last year.

When they looked at 2016 data from US travellers, Expedia found a 30% rise in demand in the whole of 2016 when compared to 2015.

London is the top UK destination US travellers are searching for, followed by Edinburgh, Glasgow, the north and Highlands of Scotland and Manchester.

The fastest growing locations in search popularity include the south west of England, Wales, Yorkshire, and the north of Scotland including the Highlands.

US travelers are also keen to visit Ireland with Dublin, Galway and Cork all featuring prominently as leading destinations.

Package searches from the US to the UK have also increased over 30% year-on-year in 2016, with these American travelers seeking a UK break for an average stay of more than seven days.

Expedia’s data follows recent figures from VisitBritain which showed inbound tourism from the US remained robust with 2% more visitors from North America coming to the UK in the first two months of 2017.

Julie Cheneau, the Expedia group’s director of market management for the UK & Ireland, said: “Our latest data continues to show that we are successfully working with our hotel partners to provide access to valuable international travelers.

“The US is a particularly valuable market that presents a tremendous opportunity for hoteliers, as they are the prized guests who generally book their trip further in advance, are much less likely to cancel, stay longer and spend more when here.

“This data shows that our value proposition of providing hotels with a global reach through our investment in technology and marketing is helping to capture those visitors and drive bookings.”