Instead of Croatia, we are spending vacation more and more often in Italy, a study claims. At the sea, we stay on average 7 to 8 days.
Are you asking where we are going most often for summer holidays this year? It's no longer Croatia, as research and comments from travel agency representatives confirm. Italy is currently winning. There is also a significant increase in interest in Albania, for example.
Most of us will head to Italy in the summer. According to a survey by Ipsos' Holiday Barometer, conducted in February and March, more than a fifth of the Czechs will visit this country. Nearly 15 percent of people will go to our eastern neighbors, Slovakia. It is 12 percent for Spain.
The results confirm a trend that ideal holiday spots still mainly include some coastal destinations.
"Our clients mainly travel to the Mediterranean in the summer. These are Turkey, Greece or Italy,"
said Jan Bezděk, a spokesperson for the travel agency Fischer, to LP-Life.
Croatia Deters with High Prices
The cooling interest in Croatia was already indicative for the last summer season, as shown by the analysis of the Czech Statistical Office. The reason will most likely be the increasing accommodation and shopping prices, which sometimes exceed even those of Western Europe. The office's document confirms that the demand for holidays in Italy increased by a quarter in year-on-year comparison.
Almost 800,000 longer trips were headed for Italy, while there were about 120,000 fewer trips to Croatia. There were about 550,000 trips to Slovakia. Greece was in fourth place, Austria fifth, and Egypt sixth. Between 470 and 440 thousand longer trips were aimed at these countries. Turkey was in seventh and Spain in eighth place. However, these are not the only destinations in the sights of our plans.
"We are seeing a significant increase in interest in Albania this year,"
Klára Divíšková from Čedok agency wrote to the editorial staff. The reason, according to experts, is mainly that the country offers untouched nature, beautiful beaches, and the fact that it is not yet heavily impacted by tourism.
A week is ideal
In most cases, we are accommodated in a hotel, according to the conclusions of the Czech Statistical Office. The average length of such a vacation is around seven to eight nights.
"Weekly stays are definitely the winners,"
Simona Fischerová from the Blue Style travel agency confirmed this to us.
On average, we spend about 2,130 crowns a day on vacation, mainly because we are primarily interested in relaxation, family gathering, and exploring nature.
Safety and comfort are top priorities
Some people simultaneously check if the desired holiday destination is risky in terms of natural or other disasters. This could include frequent fires. They try to avoid such places, Holiday Barometer found out. This year, 40 percent of European travelers have this concern, which is nearly double compared to 2022.
The public's demands for safety, comfort and complementary services are increasing, say travel agencies. Approximately a quarter of clients repeatedly choose the same destination and go on vacation twice a year.
"Among our clients, four-star and five-star hotels have been leading for a long time, and also the share of accommodations in lower categories is decreasing. Clients order all-inclusive catering the most. Of transport types, air trips certainly have the highest share, with significant increase even at destinations such as Croatia or Montenegro, where the primary mode of travel used to be by car,"
Divíšková adds.
We love to travel
Despite global uncertainty, people are traveling more eagerly than ever, which is confirmed by the Holiday Barometer's finding that 79 percent of Europeans and 71 percent of Americans have plans to go on vacation this summer. The mentioned season peaks in July and August and winds down in September.
Alongside this, however, there is also growing interest in vacationing outside the main summer season. Mostly, these are the second or third vacations when people want to warm up.
"Until the end of October, it's pleasantly warm, for example, in Tunisia's Djerba, which is approximately 2.5 hours flight from the Czech Republic or perennial Egypt. During autumn and winter, interest also grows in more distant destinations - such as Cape Verde, Oman, United Arab Emirates, and also Zanzibar,"
Fischerová explains at the end.
Wherever we go on holiday, we must expect that compared to the past, we will pay a little more. However, the reward can be many unusual experiences that we will remember for a long time.
Sources: author's article, own questioning, Ipsos, Czech Statistical Office
