Published: Thu 18 Apr 2013 at 16:43
Updated: Fri 19 Apr 2013 at 12:51
Britons will no doubt be booking cheap flights to Tenerife and Majorca with Jet2.com in record numbers this year, as the two Spanish islands have been voted the top summer holiday destinations by British holidaymakers.
A British travel poll conducted by a leading travel company has revealed the Spanish islands rule the roost when it comes to booking a summer holiday, with three of the top five favourite destinations being either the Balearics or the Canaries.
More than 1,600 people responded to the poll, naming Majorca as their top holiday destination. Tenerife and Gran Canaria came in second and fourth respectively, with the Portuguese Algarve taking the bronze position. Cyprus, in defiance of the island’s current economic crisis, managed a respectable fifth place.
Majorca has been a Mecca for British holidaymakers since the 1950s, but it is still a relatively recent hotspot compared to the ‘Island of Eternal Spring’, Tenerife, which has been a major tourist destination since the 1890s. However, its unique flora, fauna, and volcanic landscape had already set the ball rolling 100 years earlier, when the 18th century naturalist Alexander von Humboldt (after whom the penguin is named) ascended Mount Teide and commented on the island’s beauty. He spent six days on the island, something that may well have earned him the title of the world’s first eco-tourist.
Today, resorts like Puerto de la Cruz and Santa Cruz are as popular as they were 120 years ago, and with events like La Fiesta del Agua on the horizon, July is the perfect time to go.
