It would seem that Britons aren’t as clued up on their geography as one might think, with half of British holidaymakers admitting that they couldn’t point out their last holiday destination on a map of the world. Furthermore, a fifth of Britons couldn’t name the continent on which their last holiday location lies.

It has come to light that British holidaymakers aren’t all that savvy when it comes to geography, as a new poll by the UK’s fastest growing online independent travel agent has revealed that the majority couldn’t point out their last holiday destination on a map of the world.

The study was carried out by www.sunshine.co.uk after the online travel agency set out to discover more about Britons’ geographical knowledge. 1,821 people from around the UK took part in the poll and each respondent was asked questions about where they last went on holiday and if they knew where in the world they actually were.

Respondents were initially asked to state where they went on holiday for their last trip abroad and were then given a world map on which they had to mark the approximate location of where they went.

51% of the people who took part in the poll were incorrect in identifying where in the world their last holiday destination was. 8 respondents who went to Spain on their last holiday actually marked the world map near the USA when asked to point out where they went, whilst 27 respondents who had been to Mexico marked the World map near the east coast of the USA.

The respondents were then asked to write down the continent on which their last holiday destination lies, and 19% of those who took part were incorrect when doing so.

Despite many respondents giving incorrect answers when questioned about the location of their last holiday destination, 69% of those who took part rated their geographical knowledge as ‘very good’ when asked by sunshine.co.uk.

Two fifths, 42%, of the respondents who took part said that where certain places were in the world didn’t interest them, perhaps explaining in some way why Britons’ knowledge of countries and continents around the globe wasn’t all that great when looking at results of this study.

Chris Brown, co-founder of sunshine.co.uk, commented on the poll:

“If people haven’t done geography since their school days, it’s easy to see why there might be a certain amount of confusion when it comes to where things are in the world; however, I’d like to think people could still point out major countries on a world map.

“It’s slightly worrying that a lot of people don’t know where they are in the world when they go on holiday, but I suppose as long as they have a good time and get from A to B and back again safely, that’s the most important thing.”