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It is a big surprise that already without even launching its Tourism Masterplan Lagos has become the big Summer 2018 destination of choice by British Travellers.
In a report published by UK daily Mail a Travel Website Kayak.com published the search result of Travel sites to reveal that Most Travellers wanted to know how to get to Lagos.
Against the Backdrop of the renewed effort by the Governor to frontline Tourism through the Implementation of his T.H.E.S.E programme and the recent Lagos Tourism Summit the survey result will serve as encouragement to the work of the Commissioner of Tourism, Arts and Culture, in Lagos Mr. Steve Ayorinde.
According to the research, Kenyan city of Nairobi and Lagos in Nigeria are more popular 2018 non-European summer holiday destinations for Brits than Las Vegas, Sydney or Cancun.
It discovered that demands for trips to Nairobi are up 156 per cent – and to Mombasa on the Kenyan coast by 181 per cent.
Lagos isn’t far behind – searches for trips to this city have shot up 96 per cent, compared to 2017.
It said the surge in searches for these African cities is significant and will continue to grow.
Lagos has already taken the initiative to position the state a choice destination in the West African sub region with its just concluded Lagos State Tourism summit.
The Commissioner affirmed that tourism will be a major money spinner for the state.
He said the summit was to take stock and appraise Lagos tourism sector in the last three years.
It would also help the state government to draw a road map toward making tourism a profitable economy in the state, he said.
He said: “Lagos is a land of multitudes, dreams, talents and opportunities.
“The present administration is ready to explore all these by seeking productive alternatives to oil and gas through the promotion of arts, culture and tourism.
“This is a new charge of development and growth that will rest on talents and aspirations of youth, who constitute 65 per cent of the population; to make Lagos sound, smart and a force to be reckoned with.”
The top 50 most popular non-European destinations for Brits in 2018
New York 1
Orlando 2
Colombo 3
Bangkok 4
Toronto 5
Manila 6
Dubai 7
Los Angeles 8
Mumbai 9
Tokyo 10
Miami 11
Kuala Lumpur 12
Lagos 13
San Francisco 14
Nairobi 15
Also, demand for trips to Mombasa have nearly tripled in just one year.
It is now Britain’s 44th most popular international holiday destination for this summer – just behind Cape Town – having previously not featured close to the top 100.
Lagos has also made huge strides, jumping from 31st place to 13th when it comes to overall demand.
And Johannesburg is up one place from 22nd to 21st.
The top three most popular non-European destinations for Brits are New York, then Orlando and in third place is Colombo in Sri Lanka, with its tourism boom continuing after decades of civil war.
Manila in the Philippines, meanwhile, has also stormed into the top ten and is now the sixth most popular international holiday destination, with a year-on-year increase of 69 per cent.
India also saw solid gains in demand, with Chennai up 57 per cent and Mumbai up 30 per cent.
When it comes to Europe, the two biggest trends for this summer are the resurgence of Turkey and the increasing popularity of Eastern Europe.
Istanbul has seen demand increase by 114 per cent this summer compared to last year, rising from the 29th most popular European destination to eighth.
Meanwhile, Antalya in Turkey has seen demand increase by 92 per cent, climbing to 19th place, having previously been out of the top 50.
Bodrum, on Turkey’s southwest coast, has seen its demand increase by 45 per cent, placing it 39th overall.
However, the European destination that has seen its popularity increase the most for this summer compared to last is Bucharest in Romania, which has jumped from 46th place to 15th thanks to a huge increase in demand of 125 per cent.
Also in Eastern Europe, the Albanian capital Tirana has seen demand soar by 76 per cent, moving up to 17th from 41.
The strongest demand at Kayak.co.uk overall this summer in Europe has been for traditional favourites Alicante, followed by Malaga and Faro.
The destinations that are falling out of favour include Ibiza (down 42 per cent), Prague (down 42 per cent), Los Angeles (down 32 per cent), San Francisco (down 35 per cent), Las Vegas (down 40 per cent), Chicago (down 33 per cent) and Boston (down 45 per cent).
The weakened pound may be one cause of this decline, in spite of the recent rebound.
Neil Cartwright, travel expert at Kayak.co.uk, said: ‘Internationally, there has been a huge shift towards the Subcontinent as well as Africa – the increase in demand for Kenyan destinations in particular is quite sensational.
‘And we couldn’t have predicted a few years ago that Sri Lanka would become Brits’ third most popular international destination overall.
‘This might also suggest that Brits are looking for alternatives to the summer classics and are searching out more exotic destinations that they haven’t visited before. Unfortunately, the USA is the country to be missing out the most. Demand has been falling for a few years now and overall, we are seeing year-on-year declines of around a third to popular destinations.’
