New Zealand tops travel destination for Brits

Twenty-nine per cent of Brits wanted to visit New Zealand. Photo / Supplied

A new study into travel trends has revealed that Brits took 1.9million more holidays last summer than they did in 2011 - an increase of 14 per cent.

Slovakia, Japan and Iceland saw the biggest percentage increase in the number of visitors compared to previous years. But the country that appeared the most on wishlists is New Zealand.

The most popular destinations for British travellers was revealed in an analysis of government data and a survey of more than 2,000 adults in the UK by Sainsbury's Bank Travel Money.

A comparison was made for the number of holidays taken by Brits between July and September 2015 and for the same period in 2011.

Slovakia welcomed the biggest increase in British visitors with the number of tourists heading to the eastern European country rising by a staggering 466 per cent

Japan also proved popular, receiving 285 per cent more UK visitors in 2015 than in 2011.

The third most favoured destination was Iceland, which saw a 220 per cent jump in the number of UK visitors.

Perennial favourites such as Spain, Italy, Portugal and the USA also saw increases in the number of visitors with increases of 21 per cent, 43 per cent, 28 per cent and 37 per cent respectively.

According to the results of the survey, 29 per cent of people wanted to visit New Zealand, making it the most popular destination for wishlists.

Japan saw a 285% increase of visitors from the UK. Photo / iStock

It was followed by Iceland, Japan, Norway and Croatia.

The choice of destination depended on a number of different factors - for Brits the most important factors for picking a location were value for money, weather and safety.

Whether a destination is good value for money is an important factor for 49 per cent of respondents while 40 per cent of people are looking for warmer or better weather.

For 38 per cent of people, going somewhere safe is also high on the criteria.

But perhaps surprisingly, just six per cent of people say they choose a destination to visit family while only five per cent would travel to a holiday spot so they could visit friends.

Top five wish list destinations for British holidaymakers

New Zealand 29%
Iceland 20%
Japan 19%
Norway 16%
Croatia 15%