Date Added: November 08, 2011 06:48:42 AM

Most Spaniards travelling by plane to enjoy the November Bank Holiday this year are opting to travel to major European capitals. This has emerged from a study conducted by leading Spanish flight search-engine Vuelos Baratos among the searches carried out by Spanish Internet users for the dates covering the All Saints Bank holiday, which this year runs from October 28th to 2nd of November. Nearly 59% of users who searched for flights over the holiday preferred destinations outside Spain, whilst 41% of Spaniards chose to travel to cities in their home country.

London ranks as the single most searched destination above all others, achieving 9.4% of the total, followed by Barcelona (7.6%), Madrid (6.7%), Paris (6%), Rome (4.6%), Amsterdam (4.1%), Seville (3.3%), Berlin (3.1%), Palma de Mallorca (2.2%) and Prague (2.2%). In addition to those mentioned above, the list of top ten European destinations outside Spain is completed by Brussels, Lisbon, Venice and Dublin. With respect to Spain, after Barcelona and Madrid comes Seville, Palma de Mallorca, Santiago de Compostela, Tenerife, Malaga, Bilbao, Gran Canaria and Granada. With the exception of Madrid, Santiago and Bilbao all the rest are coastal destinations traditionally in high demand at this time of year as travellers try to take advantage of the last vestiges of sunshine and warm temperatures available in southern Spain and the islands before the onset of winter.

Internet users opting for destinations beyond Europe focused their searches primarily on Marrakech (24.8%) and Istanbul (23.3%). On its own Morocco accounts for the largest percentage of searches achieving nearly 42% of the total, given that Tangiers, Casablanca and Fez also appear among the ten most sought after destinations outside Europe. Rounding off the top 10 non-European destinations, but with relatively low percentages of the total search volume, are New York, Grenada, Tunis, Cairo and Dubai.

The majority of Spaniards travelling by plane are expecting to take full advantage of the November Bank Holiday by leaving on Friday 28th October and not returning until Tuesday 1st of November (35.3%). This is slightly more than those who decided to leave on Saturday 29th October and return on 1st November (28.7%). Only twenty percent of those planning to travel by plane are thinking about a two-day break.

Spanish travellers can enjoy Halloween festivities during the bank holiday

Halloween has long been established as an important event in English-speaking countries. Nevertheless, it looks as tough many Spaniards have been attracted to London this year to celebrate Halloween and take full advantage of London’s carnival atmosphere which can be sampled in the many events taking place in the bars, cinemas and restaurants of the British capital. There are also special one-off events to enjoy like the Halloween at London Bridge Experience, where visitors can face their phobias in the dark tunnels under this most famous of bridges or enjoy the "Night of Fear" gig starring old, scary rocker Alice Cooper at Alexandra Palace.

Nevertheless, in recent years Halloween has become ever more popular in Spain and the Spaniards have taken to celebrate it themselves in major cities like Madrid and Barcelona. This year in Barcelona many Halloween parties have been organised in the pubs and clubs of the Catalan capital. In addition, Theme Parks like Port Aventura are putting on lots of events and shows created to replicate the eerie atmosphere of Halloween. Barcelona is also holding the "Route of the Altars", which mirrors the Mexican tradition of setting-up altars and eating and drinking to the memory dead relatives. In Madrid there is also no shortage of events to celebrate Halloween over the November Bank holiday and, apart from the fancy-dress parties that will take place in many pubs and bars, events with a Halloween atmosphere have been organised in the Madrid "Parque de Attraciones", as well as the Madrid Zoo-Aquarium and Warner Park .

 

Destinations by region of origin

The report by Vuelos Baratos shows that Spaniards have many differences in their choice of favourite destination depending on the region where they live. For example, travellers leaving from Catalonia, Valencia, the Basque Country and Aragon have selected London as the preferred destination to travel to by plane whilst people from Andalusia and the Balearic Islands prefer to travel to Barcelona in order to enjoy the November Bank Holiday. People from Galicia are inclined to choose Madrid as their first preference, whilst also including locations like Alicante and Valencia among their top-choice destinations. The study also highlights the tendency of Canary Island residents to want to travel to other islands in the archipelago as, among the top searches from this community, are Tenerife, Lanzarote and Fuerteventura.

Most popular destinations for the November bank Holiday among Spaniards:

From Spain to all destinations: 1.London, 2.Barcelona, 3.Madrid, 4.Paris, 5.Rome, 6.Amsterdam, 7.Seville, 8.Berlin, 9.Palma de Mallorca, 10.Prague.

Most popular Spanish domestic destinations: 1.Barcelona, 2.Madrid, 3.Seville, 4.Palma de Mallorca, 5.Santiago de Compostela, 6.Tenerife, 7.Malaga, 8.Bilbao, 9.Gran Canaria, 10.Granada.