Online searches for UK hotels soar and overseas drop during UK heatwave

A hot July across the UK saw online searches for popular overseas destinations drop, while enquiries for UK hotels soared, according to hotel comparison website trivago.co.uk.

The website was able to gauge the difference the sunny weather has made to consumer habits by comparing the number of searches between 1-12 July (when temperatures in London were at an average high of 25ºC), and 13-24 July (when the average high in the capital was 30ºC).

UK-wide hotspots included Woolacombe in Devon, which received a 41% increase in online searches, Barmouth in Wales up 20%, Blackpool (+20%), Falmouth (+18%) and Folkestone (+ 11%).

Meanwhile, overseas destinations' searches dropped including Majorca, mainland Spain and Cyprus, with Magaluf down 25%, Ayia Napa (- 19%) and Fuengirola (-14%).

Overall, the travel website reported that searches to overseas summer destinations had dropped by 25% since the heatwave climbed to an average high temperature of 30ºC after Saturday 13 July.

Trivago is an online hotel search site, used by more than 20 million people every month. It has a database of more than 600,000 hotels, 42 million hotel reviews, 14 million photos and links to more than 160 booking sites.

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