Game of Thrones finale to spark Croatia ’set-jetting’ rush

With series eight of the hit show due to air early next year, Broadway Travel believes it could spark a new “set-jetting” rush to the country.

Broadway this week revealed its 2019 travel trends, which forecasts further resurgence in traditional holiday destinations such as Greece and the Red Sea region of Egypt.

However, it is also predicting a boom for Romania, which has one of the fastest growing economies in Europe, dubbing capital Bucharest - one of Broadway’s top selling city breaks - “the new Berlin”.

Citing figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS), Broadway is highlighting city breaks as a major growth area due to the “rise of budget airlines”.

Tom Davies, Broadway head of marketing, said: “2019 looks to be a big year for European cities, and it is great to see people in the UK making the most of all the beautiful destinations we have so close to home.

“One trend that particularly resonated with us was the continued increase in UK holiday makers visiting Croatia, following its starring role in Game of Thrones.

“This year, we celebrated Broadway Travels 70th anniversary at our annual conference in Dubrovnik, and everyone who attended was blown away by the natural beauty of the city and surrounding areas.”

Broadway’s trends report blends its own statistics with data from Google Trends and the ONS to compare trends over the past four years with emerging trends.

Egypt is on the rise again, according to Broadway, after a “significant drop in numbers” over the past seven years. It found the Red Sea resort of Hurghada proving increasingly popular with a nearly three-quarters increase in hotel occupancy in July, according to the Red Sea Governate.

The Egyptian tourist authority earlier this year refocused its tourism strategy in the UK on Hurghada and the rest of the Red Sea due to the ongoing Sharm el Sheikh flight ban.

Croatia is another growing destination, trading heavily off the back of hosting the filming of Game of Thrones and giving rise to a “set-jetting” trend, that of visiting locations used in popular TV shows and film.

Other trends observed by Broadway include a 16.6% decline in couples’ romantic breaks over the last four years as more women choose to travel alone rather than with their partner.

It expects the Greek island of Santorini to continue to grow in popularity after welcoming around two million holidaymakers this year, as will Portuguese capital Lisbon on account of its affordability relative to other European cities.