Skyscanner Spotlights Real Value Resorts

Online, June 7, 2010 (Newswire.com) - Cheap flight comparison site Skyscanner asked 1500 people in the UK to participate in a survey in order to determine which of the world's popular vacation destinations they considered to be the most expensive.

Respondents were asked to rate 30 destinations as: very expensive, expensive, neither, cheap or very cheap.

The results were very encouraging for North American destinations, with the US being seen by prospective travelers as being one of the more affordable destinations. When looking for flights to New York, Vegas flight deals and flights to other well-known US tourism hot-spots, based on perception UK travelers rated the US as the 20th (out of 30) most-expensive vacation destination while neighboring Canada was placed at 13; being perceived by Brits as a bit more expensive than the US.

Based on traveler perception, the top-10, most-expensive countries were:

1. Sweden
2. Norway
3. Switzerland
4. Denmark
5. Dubai
6. Iceland
7. Japan
8. Italy
9. France
10. Germany

Once Skyscanner considered the actual cost* of travel to both countries, the gap narrowed considerably: the US moved into position 17, Canada to 11.

Without taking flights into account, and based on seven days-travel, this actual-cost calculation places the top most expensive countries as:

1. France
2. Switzerland
3. Denmark
4. Brazil
5. Russia
6. Japan
7. Italy
8. Spain
9. Iceland
10. Mexico

Add in the cost of flights, the US then moves to the 13th, Canada to 10th most-expensive vacation destination, respectively.

Scot Carlson, Skyscanner's US and Canadian Country Manager says: "This is good news for US Destination Marketers who can use these travelers' perceptions to help position their destinations as 'affordable' alternatives. Although there are both luxury and budget vacations available in the US, the fact that so many consumer goods are considerably cheaper than in the UK, as well as our position as fast food capital of the world, has probably helped the perception of the US as a value for money vacation.

*Taking into consideration the average costs of a price of a cup of coffee, a bottle of beer, a three-course dinner for two with a bottle of wine, a night at a Marriott hotel and daily rental car from Avis, Skyscanner was able to calculate the actual cost in each destination. All information was obtained from tourist offices and post offices in different countries.

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Press contact
Scot Carlson/Mary Porter
www.skyscanner.com
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Tel: 1-650-249-3747