Research Shows Egypt, New Zealand & Sri Lanka Best For Brits Looking For A ‘Hidden Gem’ After Lockdown

Predictions into changing travel habits have identified the countries dubbed as ‘hidden gems’ for UK holidaymakers, with the likes of Egypt, New Zealand and Sri Lanka topping the list.

The research by travel health experts, Practio analysed 10 years of UK travel data from the Office for National Statistics to find emerging trends and forecast habits into the future of travel, as far as 2050.

Predictions show that in 2030, there will be an average of 1,610,698 visits by Brits to any country, with the average spend per person in any destination £1,014.

The locations where visits are predicted to be lower than the average in 2030, but spend higher than the average have been dubbed ‘hidden gems’ and they include:

For the past 10 years, Spain has been the overall go-to destination for Brits with visits to the country increasing by more than half between 2009 and 2019. Based on the same rate of increase, the data suggests there could be a total of 24 million UK visits to the country in 2030, with tourists spending almost £19 billion in total.

However, the figures also show new tourist traps emerging, with the most visited destination set to be Hungary in 2050, knocking Spain off the top spot.

When it comes to money spent, in 2039 Spain will no longer be the country where Brits spend the most overall. Iceland will take the top spot with Brits predicted to spend £39,032,050,815 in total.

Commenting on the research, Dr Jonas Nilsen, managing director and co-founder of Practio said:

“We wanted to pull this exhaustive research together to understand UK travel trends over the past ten years, but also to give us an idea of what this means for travel in the future. Travel was mostly out of the question in 2020 and many of us are hoping for its return in 2021. By predicting future trends, we can better equip travellers and businesses that thrive off tourism by helping them to prepare for what’s to come and how they can make the most of Brits’ travel habits.

“It’s also been great to see some of the emerging trends and how travel is changing, we’re seeing the go-to destinations start to change with more money being spent in countries further afield, which should be a good sign for the future of the travel industry beyond the pandemic.”

The research also found that on each visit made by one person, it is predicted that we will spend just over £6,000 on average in Japan in 2030, followed closely by Australia at just over £5,000 spent per person on each visit.