Dublin Tops European Pickup Cities for U.S. Travelers
Based on Auto Europe’s data during first quarter 2016, Dublin, Paris, and London were the top three European cities for car rentals picked up by U.S. residents.
Auto Europe, a provider of international car rental services, has released a study reviewing the results of the first quarter of 2016 and trends for this summer.
Based on Auto Europe’s data on car rentals picked up in Europe by U.S. residents, the top 10 European pickup cities had a few changes in first quarter 2016 compared to a year ago, including Dublin moving from third most popular pickup city in 2015 to the top spot in Q1 2016.
After analyzing car rental bookings made Jan. 1 through March 31, Italy continues to be the most popular European pickup location booked by U.S. residents. Italy accounts for 22.5% of all U.S. first quarter bookings — down slightly from 24.5% of all U.S. bookings in 2015, according to the report. France and Germany were the second and third most popular pickup countries — accounting for just over 14% and 8% of all Q1 bookings.
As part of the report, Auto Europe also looked travel trends for June through August 2016, including the most popular pickup destinations this summer based on advanced bookings by U.S. and Canadian residents compared to last year.
Rome is the most popular pickup location for summer 2016 as it was last year at this time, according to the report. One difference between the forecast for this summer compared to last summer is Dublin moving to the 3rd most popular pickup city and London dropping to 5th.
In terms of duration of rental, travelers scheduled to pick up their vehicles this summer have extended their travel slightly in 4 out of the 5 most popular pickup cities compared to last summer.
“As anticipated after a strong 2015, car rentals for Americans in Europe continued to increase in the first quarter with some interesting shifts in top destinations,” said Scott Braun, Auto Europe’s chief marketing officer. “Of course, we recognize that international events can impact overall travel patterns and we’ll continue to monitor the market and evaluate the impact in our next quarterly review.”
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