E-Sky: Poles prefer Spain and Italy for the summer

Which are most searched destinations for short-haul and long-haul plans? USA on the lead confirming Skyscanner findings from Germany

E-Sky the biggest Polish OTA has published recent study regarding popular destinations searched by Poles recently.

According to e-Sky, in winter, due to travel restrictions to Asia, Poles chose exotic destinations in Africa and Central America. The Tanzanian island of Zanzibar topped the ranking, followed by Mexico, Dominican Republic, Cuba and Aruba in the top 5. Spain and Italy are chosen by the majority of e-Sky customers in spring and summer.

Poles waiting for restriction to be lifted, but shopping around already

Experts from eSky.pl point out that Poles look for offers and check potential travel destinations in order to buy tickets and leave when the restrictions are lifted.

The pandemic did not significantly change the travel preferences of Poles. When analyzing the reservations, eSky.pl experts distinguished several countries that will reign in spring and summer this year. The most popular this year is Spain, especially Malaga, but also the Canary Islands, including Tenerife. Most often, Poles search for offers to this country in the period from the end of April to mid-July.  Demand for Tenerife is confirmed by Ryanair just announcing multiplication of capacity for Warsaw-Tenerife flights.

Italy came second just behind Spain. For many years, Rome has enjoyed the greatest popularity, and among holiday destinations, the popularity of Palermo in Sicily is growing. The interest in the offers is higher by an average of 24 percent. compared to spring-summer 2020. Poles plan to spend their holidays in Italy in the period from May to September.

USA among top searched

Apart from closer destinations, this year Poles want to visit the United States. In 2019, after the visa requirement was lifted, Polish travelers massively booked flight tickets to American cities. This year, the interest is very high – starting from May, the increases reach 10-20%. percentage depending on the month. Most people intend to go to the United States in September – an increase of 21 percent. compared to September 2019. Polish tourists most often search for offers to New York and Chicago. An interesting fact is that there is a growing number of searches for Honolulu – the capital of Hawaii.

The findings about USA matching exactly what was presented during ITB by Skyscanner. New York was placed among most desired long haul destinations in our neighbour country Germany.

Greece and Portugal also in a lead – regular summer destinations flights help

The ranking was followed by Greece and Portugal, liked by Poles. Polish travelers intend to visit both of these countries between May and August. The most frequently searched cities in Greece are Athens and Thessaloniki, and in Portugal, Lisbon. The islands of Crete, Santorini and Madeira are also growing in popularity.

Greek and Portugal destinations among leaders are not surprising. Especially having in mind big variety of regular flights offered by classical airlines like LOT and Lufthansa but not only. Also Hybrid airlines like Corendon and LCC carriers are looking for that market too.

Battle for Crete – Heraklion on offer from several airlines – prices are falling

Deniz Rymkiewicz, eSky.pl spokesman, commented: “Exotic countries chosen by Poles at the beginning of the year are relegated to the background. Now we see a large increase in interest in trips to European countries. The number of bookings on our websites has been steadily growing since mid-February. The largest increases are observed in Poland, Romania, Great Britain, Bulgaria and Italy. Interestingly, according to the report of the European Travel Commission, Poles are among the most willing nations to travel abroad in Europe, along with Italy, Belgians, Spaniards and Austrians. The survey shows that as many as 80% of Poles intend to travel in the next six months. „