Google has revealed Britons’ most sought-after travel destinations – and Greece is the number one country, with Orlando topping the cities ranking and Rhodes claiming the crown for most popular island.
The tech giant analysed the destinations in these categories for which search interest increased the most in 2023 vs 2022 together with keywords such as ‘flights to’ and ‘travel to’ in the UK, to remove non-travel-related searches.
Featured in the UK’s top ten country hotlist are seven destinations in Europe, two in Africa and one in Asia.
After popular Greece, the country people typed into Google the most was Spain (second), followed by Italy (third); Portugal (fourth) and Croatia (fifth).
Taking sixth place, it’s Cyprus, which comes ahead of Thailand (seventh); Egypt (eighth); Malta (ninth) and Morocco (10th).
In the cities list, taking home silver is Tel Aviv in Israel, while Seville in Spain comes third and the popular Moroccan city of Marrakech ranks fourth.
In fifth place is the French city of La Rochelle, located on the Bay of Biscay, which boasts a ‘large pleasure boat marina’ and a history ‘mostly involved in the sea’, according to Tripadvisor.
Next, it’s Delhi, India (sixth); Cork, Ireland (seventh) and Amsterdam, Netherlands (eighth).
The second-most popular island, according to Google, is Sicily.
Google said search interest in holidays in the UK was higher in 2023 than in any year since 2019 – the year before the pandemic – adding, though, that it could still see a residue of the pandemic around the whole of travel, which is yet to rebound to pre-pandemic levels.
Google said 2023 was the third year that saw year-over-year increase in search interest in a basket of travel topics, including flights, accommodation and train tickets.
The Google results come after Dubai was named the number one destination in the 2024 Tripadvisor Travellers’ Choice Awards, with London top in Europe and New York the highest-ranked spot in the U.S.
These winners were identified based on the quality and quantity of reviews and ratings specific to several award subcategories from travellers on Tripadvisor for accommodations, restaurants and things to do in destinations worldwide over the 12 months between October 2022 and September 2023.
Dr. Thomas Hughes is a UK-based scientist and science communicator who makes complex topics accessible to readers. His articles explore breakthroughs in various scientific disciplines, from space exploration to cutting-edge research.
