Top long-haul short break destinations named

Hong Kong, Bangkok and Beijing are the unlikely destinations that are rapidly rising in popularity for short breaks.

The far-eastern cities are seen as 'unusual' short break destinations by Brits, who are now used to hoping over to New York and Dubai for a few days.

This is according to research by Lastminute.com, which says the popularity of long-haul short breaks is on the up.

There has been a 35 per cent increase in sales of long-haul short breaks so far this year, and a 90 per cent increase on 2001 as 'cash-rich time-poor' Brits pack more into their time off.

"While we all love the likes of Paris, Rome, Madrid and Amsterdam – and they are still as popular as ever with our customers – the fact is that their accessibility and familiarity means they just don't have the 'wow' factor they had ten years ago, and we want to be able to offer our customers new options when it comes to organising their time off work," said Lastminute.com's John Bevan.

New York is the top destination for long-haul short breaks, followed by Dubai and Las Vegas.

But far-eastern cities are not far behind, with Bangkok in fourth place and Hong Kong in ninth.

"Hopping over the Pond to the US for a few days or heading to Dubai is now seen as pretty mainstream in the UK, and we are seeing increasing demand for more unusual destinations with the likes of Hong Kong proving extremely popular," Mr Bevan added.

"Our sales of Cathay Pacific flights are more than double the level they were at this time last year, a jump which is fuelled by our customers' interest in long-haul short-breaks as they continually demand ideas for new places to see and unusual things to do.

Mr Bevan predicts big things for Beijing in the next year or so with the 2008 Olympics on the horizon.

Demand for Hong Kong and Bangkok is being led by people wishing to discover cities they have only previously passed through en-route to Australia and other parts of Asia.

"Also the delays in trying to get US visas is becoming an increasing problem so we think that eastern destinations could benefit as a result," Mr Bevan added.

Lastminute.com's top long-haul short-break destinations
1. New York
2. Dubai
3. Las Vegas
4. Bangkok
5. Miami
6. San Francisco
7. Toronto
8. Boston
9. Hong Kong
10. Los Angeles XXX