Daily Research News Online no. 1041 - City Break Destinations for Britons

City Break Destinations for Britons

August 2 2001

Despite recent praise from tourism minister Kim Howells, Berlin is still at the bottom of the popularity stakes for British tourists. A survey of over 7,000 people by Taylor Nelson Sofres (TNS), via its national Postal Panel, shows that only 1.6% had visited Berlin in the last five years.

Forty-five per cent of respondents also stated that they would never visit Berlin. In addition, of the ten cities listed, Berlin scored lowest on places to eat, accommodation, shopping and nightlife.

London ranked highest of all the ten cities for things to see and visit and more Britons (26%) said they were planning to visit London than Paris (10%) or New York (6%).
But London doesn't win on every count. While it has the highest ranking as "the best place to do business in", it has lowest ranking for friendly atmosphere, polite people, cleanliness and value for money.

According to Stuart Scher, Chairman of TNS Hospitality & Leisure, "The British hotel and catering industry has suffered hugely as a result of foot and mouth, but should take heart from these findings. They show that London is still the clear favourite with British travellers as a city travel destination. It comes out top in most of the areas that are of key importance to visitors such as business facilities and leisure activities."

Other key findings include:

Sydney ranks highest as the safest city to visit, while New York is lowest.
Hong Kong is considered to be the worst city to visit for families and for drinking.
The city that most Britons would like to live in is Sydney.
Dublin is considered to be the city with the friendliest atmosphere and politest people.

The ten cities are: London, Manchester, Dublin, Paris, Rome, Berlin, New York, Hong Kong, Sydney and Barcelona.

All articles 2006-22 written and edited by Mel Crowther and/or Nick Thomas unless otherwise stated.