Palma becomes global hot spot

Palma is being chosen as a top city break destination. Beachenders, people who like taking weekend breaks at seaside resorts, are having a marked effect on the short-holiday market in many different locations. A new survey shows that as well as Palma Malta, Gibraltar and Dubai have also risen in the city breaks bookings league table for the first half of 2001. Palma made the top twenty, while other sand and sightseeing destinations also did well, according to a league table compiled by the Travelscene holiday company. Travelscene marketing director, Nick Bamford, says “Palma is just one of a number of destinations that have benefited from a new and growing demand for sunshine breaks from “Beachenders”. Another city appearing in the top twenty for the first time is Stockholm, which with the Icelandic capital Reykjavik, is now being seen as the “cool” capital of Europe. Losers in the January-June chart are Lisbon and Athens, which both drop out of the top twenty. However the strength of the short break market is demonstrated by the fact that Athens still boasted a 23% rise in bookings despite losing its top twenty place.