British travelers rent cars longer

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Car Rental News - 06/09/2007

 

New research by car hire broker shows trends in drivers from across Europe.

British travelers, more than travelers from any other nation, spend more time on the road while on vacation, according to data collected by an online car rental broker, CarDelMar.

The company recently completed a customer study comparing the driving habits of Europeans this summer. British tourists rented cars for far longer than tourists from any other nationality, averaging a rental time of 10.4 days. At the other end of the spectrum, the average German hires a car for only 9 days while vacationing in Europe.

The car broker also discovered some of the most popular destinations that Britons were driving around over the summer months. Resorts in Spain were among the favorite holiday destinations for British tourists this year.

Alicante, a medieval port, was full of British tourists this summer, while Barcelona was the favorite among the Dutch. Seville drew large numbers of French tourists while Palma, the capital of the Balearic Islands, attracted the most number of tourists from Germany.

Car hire companies would be interested to know that French tourists are more likely than any other nationality to cancel their car hire, while the most reliable group of tourists for the rental companies are the Germans. However, the situation appears to change radically during the winter months when CarDelMar discovered that the British are the group most likely to cancel their car arrangements and the French the least likely to do so.

Managing director of CarDelMar, Carsten Greiner said: 'These results are illuminating and fun.' She continued: 'It doesn't surprise me that British holiday-makers are the most adventurous and hire their cars for longer than anyone else. Their desire to explore and use their cars for discovery is what CarDelMar is all about. More than 750,000 British people now live permanently in Spain, making it an obvious choice with many visiting friends and family for their holidays.'

Greiner pointed out that holiday choices and behaviors vary widely across Europe, as information gathered by her company attests. She concluded: 'With the flexibility and freedom that wide-spread car rental offers, the adventures of the open road are now easily accessible to all. There's so much of the world to see, it's important to make the most of the local area and discover new sites.'

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