The UK’s fastest growing online independent travel agent has released trading figures that show an 89% increase in sales in January 2010 when compared to January 2009 and has revealed which destinations have seen most bookings this year so far.

www.sunshine.co.uk has seen sales almost double from January 2009 to January 2010, with a sales increase of 89%, suggesting that things are looking bright for the travel and tourism industry this year. The number of bookings has risen by half and the number of passengers sent abroad has increased by 46% when compared to the same time in January last year.

These latest statistics from sunshine.co.uk follow a successful trading year in 2009, despite the recession, and highlight the fact that the travel industry is already picking up following the economic downturn. Other figures that further demonstrate this point are the most and least popular holiday destinations based on percentage share of bookings at sunshine.co.uk.

The site found that whilst Spain is still the most popular destination in terms of percentage share of bookings, the holiday location has seen only a marginal growth in terms of bookings since last year. Even though the USA only accounts for a small number of bookings on sunshine.co.uk in terms of share percentage, the actual number of bookings to the States has doubled when compared to January 2009.

In order, the destinations that have seen the biggest increase in bookings when compared to January 2009, along with the percentage increases figures are;

1. Egypt – 111.6%
2. Greece – 108.5%
3. USA – 102.4%
4. Turkey – 100.7%
5. Portugal – 88.5%
6. Malta – 80.9%
7. Canaries – 72.4%
8. Tunisia – 5.9%
9. Spain – 3.7%

Chris Brown, co-founder of sunshine.co.uk, commented on these trading figures;

“We are extremely lucky to have had such a successful year and see the increases in sales, passengers and bookings that we have. Whilst these statistics reflect the success of sunshine.co.uk, they also go a long way to proving that the travel industry as a whole is picking up.

He continued, “It’s interesting to see that whilst Spain still has the biggest percentage of market share when it comes to bookings on our site, it is actually destinations like the USA and Egypt that have seen the biggest percentage increase in bookings. The fact that bookings to Egypt and Greece have more than doubled in the past year, but the number of people opting to go to Spain has only grown marginally proves that the trends of the trade are changing.”

LINK http://www.sunshine.co.uk

ENDS

For more information or to set up interviews with Chris Brown please contact Shannon Haigh of 10 Yetis Public Relation Agency, on 01452 348211 or email [email protected]

Editors Notes

Sunshine.co.uk is the UK’s leading online independent travel agent and was founded by Chris Brown and Chris Clarkson, the same people behind Holiday Watchdog which was bought by TripAdvisor in February 2008 for an undisclosed amount of money. Sunshine.co.uk offers low cost holidays and budget flights to destinations all over the world as well as great deals and discounted hotels.