Dublin remains popular choice for UK travellers

Dublin is proving a popular destination for British travellers, a list of the top 20 cities has revealed.

Wed, 15 Jan, 2003 - 08:29

Dublin is proving a popular destination for British travellers, a list of the top 20 cities has revealed.

Dublin, seventh in 2002, was one of seven cities in the top 10 to show a healthy increase in bookings last year, according to travel company Travelscene.

British holidaymakers are continuing to shun New York as a city destination, according to travel statistics out today covering the whole of 2002.

Still struggling to recover from the events of September 11, New York dropped out of the top 20 cities table.

In contrast, travellers shrugged off the devastating floods that hit Prague to help push the Czech capital up to eighth place.

Berlin returned to the top 20 after a 10-year absence, while Bergen in Norway, Copenhagen and Marrakech all enjoyed big rises in visitor numbers last year.

Scandinavian cities also proved popular as did Warsaw, Tallinn in Estonia and Riga in Latvia.

The top three cities were once again Paris, Amsterdam and Bruges, with Brussels and Barcelona nudging up to push Rome, which was fourth in 2001, into sixth place.

The top 20 cities in 2002 (with 2001 positions in brackets) were:

1. Paris (1)

2. Amsterdam (2)

3. Bruges (3)

4. Brussels (5)

5. Barcelona (6)

6. Rome (4)

7. Dublin (7)

8. Prague (10)

9. Venice (8)

10. Madrid (11)

11. Lille (9)