London Olympics 2012: Scandinavian Summer in England

July 25, 2012 - PRLog -- Athletes from 205 different countries are competing in 26 Olympic sports at the 2012 games and London is preparing to be the hotspot for millions of visitors from all over the world. Whether it’s to cheer on their country at the 30th Edition of this prestigious sporting event or to take advantage of the fact that the tourist attractions of the capital of England would be a stone’s throw away, this is the event of the summer.

The Bravofly Group, one of the biggest European players in the online travel industry, has analysed the data based on bookings made by passengers travelling during the period of the Olympics, both arriving into and departing from London. Despite the crisis engulfing Europe at the moment travellers are not hesitating to pick up and pack their suitcases and set off on their summer holidays at affordable prices with cheap flights still available to London.

“Even during the summer period and the Olympic Games there are still many offers for low-cost round trip flights from Europe to London”, says Fabio Cannavale, Executive President and Co-Founder of the Bravofly Group.

“London is the main European hub”, continues Fabio Cannavale, “and it is the cheapest destination in Europe, therefore it is possible to fly in peak seasons at very reasonable prices”.

Most popular departure airports

As with leap years, this global event arrives every four years and always sees people flocking to the host city in order to enjoy the atmosphere. This year the Swedish capital Stockholm is the most popular departure airport for Bravofly.com passengers whilst their fellow nationals have been following them from the cities of Malmo and Gothenburg.

With 24% of the bookings on the Bravofly websites, Sweden is the most followed country and at an average price of £47 per segment per passenger. Continuing on a Scandinavian theme the Norwegian and Danish capitals, Oslo and Copenhagen respectively, form the rest of the list. For those flying from Scandinavia to invade England, the total average price is £57 per passenger per segment.

Of all the flights booked to London the average cost was not much higher at £71 per passenger per segment. The cheapest airport to depart from is Bratislava at a price of £26 proving that low cost flights continue to be available across Europe. In addition Milan, Dusseldorf, Poznan, Gdansk, Warsaw  were bookable for under £50 per passenger per segment. For more offers of a similar nature follow Bravofly on Twitter and #Bravofly50, which posts a selected low-cost flight every day.

Top events

The Ancient Olympic Games lasted just one day and had just one event – a running race. Despite the introduction of a number of new events to compete in, it is still athletics that remains to this the day one of the most popular.  

Just under 14% of passengers booked on the Bravofly websites are arriving on the weekend of the 3rd of August.  It is possible that they have got a passion for Athletics with the Men’s 100m Final, Women’s 400m Final and Triple Jump being the most popular track and field events that weekend.

The excitement of the Tour de France and the resurgence of cycling as a popular sport is perhaps why 17% of those booked land in the capital the week commencing the 30th of July. Amongst other events they could be heading for the London Velopark for track cycling or even the road racing across the centre of London and into Surrey.

As also shown in the graph above, we have discovered almost a quarter of passengers booked are arriving in time to witness the grand Opening Ceremony, featuring a parade of all competing nations and the entrance of the Olympic Flame.

Londoners Escape for Mainland Europe

Many Brits have been following the journey of the Olympic Torch as it passes through over 1,000 cities, towns and villages in the UK. For some this has been enough of a taste of the Olympics and have since chosen to escape the chaos of the capital for the summer sun of Spain, with Alicante and Palma at the top of the list. Their next door neighbours Portugal were third on the list (6.2%) with the most popular destinations being Lisbon and Funchal on the idyllic island of Madeira. Others have chosen the romance of Italy and it’s ancient capital Rome, the beautiful Tuscan City of Florence and Naples with the wonderful Amalfi Coast.

Traditional, Combined or Low Cost

Looking at the data compiled for the period of the Olympics, bookings show that low cost airlines continue to dominate (63.5%) compared to the more traditional airlines (24.4%). However both have decreased somewhat with the increasing popularity of booking combined flights (12.2%). This feature of the Bravofly websites allows travellers to book an outbound and inbound flight with different airlines, even low cost companies with the more traditional ones.

These are based on bookings made on Bravofly.co.uk and Bravofly.com by those travelling to and from London  between July 26, 2012 and August 13, 2012, for bookings made as of 6th July, 2012.

About Bravofly

The Bravofly group is growing rapidly with sites now available in 8 languages producing over 11 million unique visitors per month. Other than Bravofly.com the group includes Bravofly.co.uk, Volagratis.it, Bravoavia.ru, Viaggiare.it, Hotelyo.com, Crocierissime.it and 2Spaghi.it offering not only flights but a variety of dynamic holiday packages, hotels, car hire, cruises, restaurants and city guides. With all the features that you need integrated into one system, Bravofly’s customers can choose and book the trip they want at the best prices in a quick and easy way.

For more information regarding our Press Releases, please visit the Bravofly Press Area at http://www.bravofly.co.uk/content/en-gb/pressarea.html or contact Andy Buswell on (0044) 02035297118.

Email: press.office@bravofly.com