British book holiday rentals Spain earlier
March 25th, 2010For many families the beginning of the new year is a good moment to start searching for a holiday rental in Spain. According to market research by Muchosol, British families start searching for holiday rentals in Spain much earlier than their Southern counterparts.
Between September and December the holiday rental market is very quiet. Searches for terms as Holiday rentals Spain or apartments Costa Brava hardly show up in Google statistics. From January google-searches and visitors to touristic websites suddenly shoot up to 1.000.000 monthly searches for holiday rentals in France and just under 800.000 for holiday rentals Spain. Usually a second, lower peak is reached in the months of June and July.
The early planning of the holidays is not only typically British, but rather Northern-European. A similar trend can be found when looking at search-results in the German, Dutch, and Swedish markets, while Southern-Europeans wait much longer when planning the holidays. In Spain and Italy for example, about 60% of all searches for holiday rentals are made in May, June and even July.
Muchosol has no clear explanation for the phenomenon. Perhaps it has something to do with the Anglosaxon tradition of new year resolutions. A more plausible explanation might be that Southern-Europeans normally spend the holidays in their own country, which brings along less uncertainty and planning, says Thomas Kruiper from Muchosol. Whatever the explanation, if your favorite holiday rentals in Spain for this summer are already booked, they are likely to have been taken by a German or a Dutch.
Written by: Thomas Kruiper, Muchosol

