British tourists feel safest in Spain for holidays

Feb. 7, 2011 - PRLog -- A new poll by one of the UK’s leading online independent travel agents has revealed which countries British holidaymakers feel the most and least safe in, following the recent chaos in locations such as Tunisia and Egypt. Spain was revealed as the ‘safest’ destination, whilst Mexico was voted as the ‘least safe’ holiday destination.  

The study was conducted by www.sunshine.co.uk, as part of ongoing research into Britons’ views on destinations around the world. 2,916 people aged 21 and over subsequently took part, each of whom had been on holiday in the past 3 years.

Respondents were asked to specify which destinations they had visited on holiday in the past 3 years and were subsequently asked to rate how safe they felt in those destinations on a scale of 1 to 10; 1 being ‘extremely unsafe’ and 10 being ‘extremely safe.’

These results were then collated to find the top 5 ‘safest’ and ‘unsafe’ destinations, based on the average score of how secure British tourists felt whilst there. The results were as follows:

Top 5 countries where tourists felt the safest:

1.   Spain – 9.8
2.   France – 9.5
3.   Cyprus – 9.4
4.   New Zealand – 8.3
5.   Denmark – 8

Top 5 countries where tourists felt the least safe:

1.   Mexico – 1.8
2.   South Africa – 2
3.   Bulgaria – 2.5
4.   Jamaica – 3.2
5.   Dubai – 3.4

Chris Brown, co-founder of http://www.sunshine.co.uk, commented on the findings:

“Unfortunately, there’s a stigma attached to certain destinations which put tourists off going there, particularly with the likes of South Africa and Dubai. Britons obviously feel more at ease when holidaying in countries that are a little closer to home, such as in Europe, but people shouldn’t fear certain places.”

He continued:

“Yes, crime levels do vary in different countries, but providing you use common sense and respect the local customs, you can still have a perfectly enjoyable holiday.”

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

ENDS

For more information, or to arrange interviews with Chris Brown, please contact Shannon Haigh of 10 Yetis PR Agency on 01452 348211 or email shannon@10yetis.co.uk

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.

Chris Brown of sunshine.co.uk was a ‘Secret Millionaire’ in the series on Channel 4 that began in October 2010.

Sunshine.co.uk offers low cost holidays and budget flights to destinations all over the world as well as great deals and discounted hotels.

TravelMole recently voted sunshine.co.uk as the best Travel Agency in the 2010 web awards.