To launch its new Travel Name Game, Flight Centre reveals:
- David is the most travelled name
- The most popular city is Sydney, Australia
- The most travelled country is the USA
- Bruce & Sheila are more likely to visit Australia than any other country
- Summer Recess predictions: Theresa from Maidenhead most likely to visit Sydney, Jeremy from North London to New York, and Nicola from Glasgow to Singapore
To unveil its new ‘Travel Name Game’, Flight Centre has revealed which destinations customers are most likely to visit based on their name and location. The findings, sourced from the company’s bookings data, show the company’s most travelled customers are called David (who are most likely to go to Bangkok), the most travelled city is Sydney, Australia and the most visited country is the USA.
With the Travel Name Game, holidaymakers can get inspiration simply by typing their first name into the search box. The Travel Name Game will then reveal which destinations customers are most likely to visit based on their name and share destination information and tips on the best things to do while visiting.
To celebrate the launch of the Travel Name Game, Flight Centre has revealed a wealth of stats from its UK bookings data, including:
Top 10 most popular destinations
The USA took the number one top spot in terms of countries with Australia (2), South Africa (3) and Thailand (4) and New Zealand (5) making up the rest of the top five. Also in the top 10 were the UAE (6), Spain (7), Canada (8), Italy (9) and India (10).
When broken down by city, Sydney, Australia, was number one followed by Bangkok, Thailand, and Auckland, New Zealand, in second and third place respectively followed by New York (4), Melbourne (5), Brisbane (6), Perth (7), Johannesburg (8), Dubai (9) and Cape Town (10).
Names most likely to travel
According to the data, men called David (1), John (2) or Michael (3) are the most likely in the country to travel. Jetsetters James (4) and Andrew (5) also made the top five with Peter (6), Paul (7), Robert (8), Christopher (9) and Richard (10) being the next most likely to book a holiday. Among women, Susan (1), Sarah (2) and Elizabeth (3) were the most adventurous – being more likely to jet off on holiday than any other name. Also in the women’s top ten were Margaret (4), Jennifer (5), Patricia (6), Helen (7), Emma (8), Mary (9) and Laura (10).
Where will UK politicians spend Summer Recess?
After the recent dramatic general election (and surprising result!), the UK’s politicians must be looking forward to the Summer Recess (20 July – 5 September 2017) – but where will they choose to unwind? Based on the constituency of some of our leading political figures, Flight Centre’s booking data suggests:
- Someone named Theresa from Maidenhead is most likely to visit Sydney, Australia;
- Jeremy from North London is most likely to go to New York, USA;
- Nicola from Glasgow is most likely to travel to Singapore;
- and someone called Tim around the Newcastle area is most likely to escape to Halifax, Canada.
And other world leaders?
The company’s UK bookings data also gives us an idea of where other world leaders might visit this summer, based on their names:
- Someone called Donald is most likely to travel around the USA – perhaps unsurprising for Trump given the rumours of his delayed State visit to the UK;
- Emmanuel is 83 per cent more likely to visit Ghana than France;
- and Angela is 94 per cent more likely to visit Australia than Germany.
Strictly on Holiday
The new Strictly contestants are likely to need some R&R before the show hits our screens again at the end of September and Flight Centre’s data predicts where they might choose to travel to:
- Mollie King, the first confirmed contestant, is most likely to travel to Sydney
- The judges will be spread all over the globe with Darcey most likely to go to Sydney, Craig to Bangkok and Bruno to Rio
- Len Goodman, who is stepping down as Head Judge, is most likely to take a holiday to Raleigh in North Carolina
- New judge Shirley is most likely to holiday in Perth and hosts Tess and Claudia might also travel Down Under, with both being most likely to visit Sydney
Holidays fit for a Queen
Flight Centre’s booking data also suggests the Royal family could be split into two for their holidays this year:
- Those named Elizabeth and Charlotte are most likely to travel to Sydney;
- The men in the family – Phillip, Charles, William and George are most likely to visit Bangkok;
- But Kate is most likely to head to New York – perhaps for a spot of shopping while the rest of the family are in Australia and Thailand?
Bruce and Sheila Heading Down Under
Strewth! It might not be just a stereotype. According to the stats, women called Sheila are 300 per cent more likely to visit Australia than any other country and men called Bruce 50 per cent more likely head Down Under than anywhere else.
Travelling with Friends
Despite the last episode of Friends airing over 13 years ago, the sit-com is still a firm favourite. Lisa Kudrow recently put to bed rumours of a Friends movie – so perhaps the cast will be taking some time off instead. According to Flight Centre’s Travel Name Game, Rachel, Monica and Chandler are most likely to go to Sydney, Phoebe to Melbourne, Ross to Bangkok and Joey to Hong Kong.
Exotic destinations for unusual names
Those with more unusual names needn’t worry about being missed out. From the hundreds of thousands of customers travelling with Flight Centre, there were also some more unusual names:
- Those called Heaven are most likely to go to Sydney
- If your name is Sunny, you’re most likely to catch some rays in Bali
- People called Rainbow are most likely to visit Las Palmas in Spain
David and Susan Most Likely to Visit Sydney, Australia
David and Susan are the most popular male and female names travelling to Sydney – the most popular city overall among Flight Centre customers. Men named David (1st place) made the most bookings overall, with John (2), Michael (3), Andrew (4) and Robert (5) also making the top spots. Also in the top ten for Sydney were Peter (6), James (7), Christopher (8), Paul (9) and Mark (10). Susan (1st place) and Sarah (2) were the most popular women’s names to Sydney with Margaret (3), Elizabeth (4), Jennifer (5), Christine (6), Emma (7), Patricia (8), Helen (9) and Rebecca (10) in the top ten.
Alison Zacher, Retail MD at Flight Centre UK, said: “Our team of Travel Experts are skilled in helping customers choose the best holiday for them – whether they’re making the decision based on a climate, time difference, activities on offer or how long it takes to get to a destination. Delving into our booking data revealed that your name might also have an impact so we created the Travel Name Game to provide our customers with a fun way of getting some holiday inspiration. According to our data, women called Alison are most likely to travel to Sydney, New York or Melbourne – which has given me some food for thought for my next trip!”
The Flight Centre Travel Group (fctgl.com) is one of the world’s largest travel companies. Since establishing the first Flight Centre store in 1995, the business has grown its team of Travel Experts to include over 80 stores within the United Kingdom, with new stores opening regularly. Worldwide, Flight Centre has 2,500 stores globally, making it one of the largest and most successful independent travel retailers in the world.
The Flight Centre team are experts when it comes to travel and are committed to providing customers with a great experience. They can organise anything from flights to holidays, hotels, car hire, tours, travel insurance, visas and more.
To book, visit one of Flight Centre’s 84 stores across the UK or visit www.flightcentre.co.uk.
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For further press information, please contact:
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About the Flight Centre Travel Group (FCTG)
The Flight Centre Travel Group (fctgl.com) is one of the world’s largest travel companies with over 18,000 staff and 2500 stores across its leisure, corporate and wholesale businesses. The company’s turnover in 2014/2015 financial year was £9 billion. After starting with one shop 30 years ago, FCTG has enjoyed remarkable growth and is one of the top 100 publicly listed companies on the Australian Securities Exchange.
All specialist brands under the FCTG Corporate banner offer 24/7 support and the benefits of a blended offline/online solution; global negotiation strength and unique and superior business travel products.
About Flight Centre
The team at Flight Centre are experts when it comes to travel and are committed to providing customers with a great experience. The company’s success comes down to its people, experienced Travel Experts who are passionate about finding their customers the holiday they want, for the price they want.
Since establishing the first Flight Centre store in 1995, the business has grown its team of Travel Experts to include over 80 stores within the United Kingdom, with new stores opening regularly. Worldwide, Flight Centre has an amazing 2,500 stores across the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, United States, Canada and more, making Flight Centre one of the largest and most successful independent travel retailers in the world. With its global reach and close relationships with the world’s best travel providers, the company is able to provide competitive travel deals.
The Flight Centre team can organise anything from flights to tailor-made holidays, hotels, car hire, tours, travel insurance, visas and more. They also have dedicated First and Business Class flight teams and Business Travel teams to help with any specialised travel needs.
For more information go to www.flightcentre.co.uk, www.facebook.com/FlightCentreUK, www.twitter.com/flightcentre_UK or www.instagram.com/flightcentreuk.
