Cypriots are among Europe`s most dedicated holiday travellers with the onus on fun rather than worry about environmental and cultural offerings, an EU survey suggests.
According to the barometer on European attitudes towards tourism Cypriots are least likely to stay at home with friends during the summer months.
The proportion of respondents who did not go on holiday because they preferred to stay at home or to be with friends or family was less than 1 in 20 in the FYROM, Cyprus, Croatia, Latvia and Turkey, but was roughly a sixth in Belgium.
In almost all countries in this study, the largest proportion of holidaymakers said they were looking primarily for “rest and recreation” when they went on their main holiday.
And the highest percentage selecting “rest and recreation” as their primary holiday choice was in Cyprus with 64%.
In two other countries, more than half of respondents gave a similar response: Malta(53%), and Greece(51%).
Sun, sea and sand was also among the three most mentioned factors in almost all other countries:the only exceptions, unsurprisingly, were Cyprus, France, Malta and Turkey.
When it came to options for entertainment influencing their choice of destination Cypriots came top at 29% compared to 6% in Germany and Finland.
In most countries, the most frequently selected attractions were the location`s environment and cultural heritage: Cyprus, FYROM, Ireland and the UK were the most notable exceptions.
Again Cyprus topped this mini-league placing entertainment options above culture and the environment.
Some 29% of Turks said they would reduce none of the listed leisure activities when trying to make sevings.
This option was also among the most frequently mentioned responses in Spain, Belgium, Cyprus, Slovakia, Iceland and FYROM (all 13%-16%).
People in Luxembourg, Denmark and Cyprus were particularly likely to have made at least one holiday trip, but no “short private” trips (35%-38%). However, there is an upward trend of more Cypriots not travelling for leisure purposes.
The proportion of respondents who had made at least one “short private” trip but no holiday trips in 2010 was just over one in five in Finland and Latvia.
In 2009, 26% in Cyprus had not made “short private” or holiday trips, this share increased to 35% in 2010.
A majority of countries surveyed, at least half of respondents-who had made “short private” trips in 2010- said they had made one or two such trips (ranging from 50% in Latvia to 75% in Cyprus).
In Finland and Norway, less than a quarter of respondents – who had travelled for leisure purposes – had only made one or two “short private” or holiday trips (22%-23%): the corresponding figure for Bulgaria and Sweden was 30%.
In Malta and Cyprus, on the other hand, more than twice as many respondents had not made more than one or two leisure trips (66%, respectively).
Unsurprisingly, when it came to travelling car, motorbike, train or bus Cypriots were bottom of the pile which is why 82% of islanders prefer to fly.
In most countries surveyed (25 out of 32), more than half of holidaymakers had organised their holiday individually but Italians, Bulgarians, Swedes and Cypriots were considerably less likely to do so.
Making holiday decisions based on personal experience was most widely seen in Bulgaria (52%). In addition, more than 4 in 10 respondents in Hungary and Turkey (both 44%) and Slovakia (42%) selected this option as the first or second most important element when making holiday plans.
However, less than a quarter of respondents gave a similar response in Sweden(20%), Cyprus(21%), Norway and Finland (both 22%), Austria (23%) and Germany (24%).
Commercial guidebooks and travel magazines were the main source of information used when planning a holiday by between 16% and 19% of respondents in Luxembourg, Hungary, the UK, Cyprus, Greece and the Czech Republic.
Those planning to visit another EU country were the highest in Luxembourg (47%), Cyprus(41%), Malta (39%), Belgium (38%) and Denmark (37%).
Almost three-quarters of EU citizens said they had travelled, either for business or private purposes, at least once in 2010.
Slightly less than 3 in 10 had not travelled for leisure purposes.
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