The 9th of January is known in the travel industry as ‘Sunshine Saturday’ the busiest day of the year for holiday companies as Brits look to beat the winter blues by booking their summer holidays! According to research by a voucher code website the most popular destination for Brits this year is Spain with plenty of great deals available.

An online voucher code website decided to find out where Brits were wanting to head this summer, what type of holiday they wanted to book and also some of the best deals around.

Research shows*
• Last year over one million people were expected to visit a Thomson or First Choice shop or website on Sunshine Saturday
• 37,000 customers expected to book in 24 hours on Sunshine Saturday
• Mobile and tablet bookings expected to hit all time high with 40% of bookings made on devices
• Overall 77% of Britons said they took a holiday either at home or abroad in the 12 months to August 2015
• 51% are looking to spend the same on a holiday this year as they did last year (2015)

To see what we can expect to see this year, www.myvouchercodes.co.uk surveyed over 1,256 people in the UK, aged over 18, asking initially: “Are you wanting to book a summer 2016 holiday?” They found that 70% of respondents were wanting to book a summer holiday this year, whilst 18% were undecided and only 12% did not want to book a summer holiday.

To find out more about where people want to go, they then asked those who answered yes to the first question: “Would you like to go somewhere abroad for your summer 2016 holiday or stay in the UK?” The majority (62%) stated they wanted to go abroad for their summer holiday, whilst 19% were wanting to holiday in the UK and the remaining 19% were undecided.

They then asked those who wanted to travel abroad: “Where would you like to go?” The top 10 most popular destinations abroad Brits want to travel to in 2016:

1. Spain
2. USA
3. Greece
4. South America
5. Cruise
6. France
7. Italy
8. Australia
9. Canada
10. Japan

Speaking about the impending Sunshine Saturday Mark Pearson founder of MyVoucherCodes said:

“The dreary weather in January, the lull after the Christmas period and with some people suffering from Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD), it’s not surprising that people turn their thoughts to booking a summer holiday to cheer themselves up. Although many are still paying off their Christmas bills in January it’s still a popular time for people to get organised and book their summer holiday, giving them something to look forward to.”

He added:

“Travel agents are gearing up for a busy day, both in store and online, there will also be plenty of great offers to tempt people into the shops or to check out online. It’s a good time to book a holiday, in general at the start of the season prices tend to be lower and research also suggests leaving to the last minute isn’t the cheapest option either. Plus booking now means you have a good few months to plan what you want to do whilst your away and also you have something to look forward to!”

*Research conducted by Tui & ABTA