Tuesday 29 January 2013

NEWS FROM HOTELS.COM


BRITS DESCEND(ANTS) ON HAWAII
Films in 2012 cause surges in popularity to movie destinations

In the midst of movie award season, Hotels.com today reveals the top films of 2012 that are sparking huge travel trends into 2013, as UK travellers looked to visit the location of their favourite films. The overall most popular film of 2012 was The Descendants, where searches to Hawaii and its glorious beaches that George Clooney battled to protect, increased by 282% in January 2012, compared to January 2011.

Skyfall may have been awarded a Golden Globe for Best Original Song, but it also fared well in the travel chart with searches to its locations of Istanbul up 171%, and Shanghai up 108% in its month of release compared to the same period last year.

Fictional film destinations also proved extremely popular as holiday destinations in 2012, with The Hunger Games inspiring an increase of searches of 141% to its location of Asheville, North Carolina and The Hobbit also caused a 114% spike in searches to New Zealand on Hotels.com when it was released in December 2012. Twilight Breaking Dawn Part 2 also inspired “Twihards” to visit its main location of Vancouver, Canada, with searches up 89% in November 2012.

Top movie destinations experiencing the greatest search increases following their release:

Movie
Destination
Comparison period
Search increase
1
The Descendants
Hawaii, USA
January 2012 vs. January 2011
282%
2
Skyfall
Istanbul, Turkey
October 2012 vs. October 2011
171%

3
Hunger games
Asheville, North Carolina
March 2012 vs. March 2011
141%
4
The Hobbit
New Zealand
Dec 2012 vs. Dec 2011
114%
5
Skyfall
Shanghai, China
October 2012 vs. October 2011
108%
6
Twilight Breaking Dawn Part 2
Vancouver, Canada
Nov 2012 vs. Nov 2011
89%

Kate Hopcraft of Hotels.com said, “The search increases to movie destinations just go to show that our love of film doesn’t just end when we leave the cinema, as film fanatics from across the UK have been inspired to visit the top locations of 2012 in real life. With the Oscars just around the corner, it will be interesting to see whether the winning productions spark further travel interest as fans look to recreate the cinematic magic for themselves.”

- Ends -
For more information please contact:
Jennifer Murdoch or Bethany Pearson at Frank PR on 020 7693 6999 or email hotels.com@frankpr.it
Or Kate Hopcraft, khopcraft@hotels.com, 020 7019 2165 / Laura Watts, lwatts@expedia.com  020 7019 2761

About Hotels.com
Hotels.com is a leading online accommodation booking website with over 160,000 properties around the world, ranging from international chains and all-inclusive resorts to local favourites and bed & breakfasts, together with all the information needed to book the perfect stay. Hotels.com benefits from one of the largest hotel contracting teams in the industry, negotiating the best rates for its customers, and offers frequent sales, special deals and promotions. Regular customer e-newsletters provide exclusive offers and advance warning of up-coming sales. There are more than 7 million reviews on the site from users who have actually stayed in the hotels to ensure customers can make an informed choice when booking. Through its industry-leading loyalty programme Welcome Rewards, customers can earn a free night for every 10 nights stayed at more than 85,000 hotels. Under its Price Match Guarantee, if a customer can find the same deal for less on a prepaid hotel, Hotels.com will refund the difference. Travellers can book online or by contacting one of the multilingual call centres. Special apps for mobile phones and tablets can also be downloaded at www.hotels.com/deals/mobile enabling customers to book on the go with access to 20,000 last minute deals. For the last nine years, Hotels.com has published an award-winning twice-yearly review of international hotel room price trends called the Hotels.com Hotel Price Index which is now produced in 30 individual country editions. Follow Hotels.com on Facebook at facebook.com/Hotels.comUK, on Twitter at @HotelsdotcomUK and YouTube at www.youtube.com/HotelsEU. Hotels.com is part of Expedia Inc., the largest online travel company in the world with an extensive portfolio that includes some of the world's best-known brands.

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