County Antrim has seen the biggest year-on-year increase in interest from international tourists of any UK county, according to travel trends data released by TripAdvisor, the world’s largest travel site.
Game of Thrones
County Antrim, which is home to a host of filming locations for popular TV series Game of Thrones, has seen interest from international travellers increase on TripAdvisor by 65% since 2014. UK travellers also appear to have caught Game of Thrones holiday fever, with County Antrim seeing a 47% increase in interest from domestic travellers.
Elsewhere in the UK, Bristol has seen the second highest increase in international traveller interest year-on-year, while Greater Manchester benefitted from the biggest boost in domestic traveller interest – up 53%.
Top 10 county increases
The top ten UK counties with the biggest year-on-year increase in international and domestic traveller interest on TripAdvisor are:
*Exact percentages rounded to zero decimal points
“Studies like this show how quickly outside influences can impact tourism to a particular destination, with County Antrim being the most recent destination to benefit from film and TV tourism,” said Stephanie Boyle, TripAdvisor spokesperson. “Spotting trends like this early can give independent hotels and bed & breakfast owners a big advantage. TripAdvisor provides the perfect platform for business owners looking to access insightful travel data and identify potential growth areas.”
Edinburgh remains a hotspot
The travel trends study also examined the overall level of traveller interest in each of the UK counties in the past year. It found that Edinburgh was second only to London in terms of international traveller interest during that period. However, the Scottish capital was only the tenth most popular county destination for domestic travellers.
In fact, Yorkshire takes second place behind London in terms of domestic traveller interest, ahead of Devon and Greater Manchester.
Overall traffic
The top ten UK counties for overall traffic from international and domestic travellers on TripAdvisor are:
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