Travel interest to the UK’s coastal destinations has increased by up to 64% following the heatwave, according to new data from Trivago.
The hotel comparison website compared hotel searches made during the hottest days (Monday 29th June – Wednesday 1st July) to searches made the previous week (Monday 22nd – Wednesday 24th June).
It found that Bournemouth is the UK’s favourite seaside resort, followed by Blackpool, Brighton, Scarborough and Whitby.
The most expensive coastal destination was St Ives, where an overnight stay costs an average of £160, followed by Poole (£140), Portsmouth (£127), Newquay (£117) and Brighton (£116).
Meanwhile the cheapest prices can be found in Blackpool at an average of £60 per night during July, followed by Skegness (£62), Scarborough (£79), Weston-super-Mare and Southend-on-Sea (both £82).
Southend-on-Sea also experienced the greatest increase in travel interest, with hotel searches increasing by 64% over the one week period. This was followed by Skegness (45%), Weston-super-Mare (42%), Bournemouth (35%) and Tenby (30%).
Almost all of the most popular coastal destinations experienced an increase in searches during the heatwave, with only Plymouth (down by 10%) and Portsmouth (down 7%) experiencing significant decreases.
Denise Bartlett, Trivago’s UK press officer, said: “With temperatures reaching the highest during July on record, we have seen a sharp increase in searches to UK coastal destinations.
“The early heatwave seems to have prompted optimism for a hot UK summer, with holidaymakers opting for a ‘staycation’ and searching for popular seaside resorts within the UK.”
