Eastern Europe shoots up chart of hot destination for driving holidays
posted: Nov 19, 2008

Forget luxury long-haul holidays – Romania is now the holiday destination of choice for British drivers. As the credit crunch drives resourceful Brits to swap expensive destinations for cheaper places, international car rental company easyCar.com reports a whopping +540 per cent growth in car rentals in the Eastern European country over the past year.

Also enjoying increasing popularity are Norway (+345 per cent) and Finland (+195 per cent), the Czech Republic (+129% per cent), Portugal (+196 per cent) and Israel (+418 per cent): all proving that people are stretching their imaginations as well as the pound when looking at destinations.

Saturday night take ME away!
Brits may be forced to save cash by staying in on Saturday nights – but we’re using the time to book our next break abroad. The easyCar.com survey reveals a third (33 per cent) of all its holiday bookings are being made at 10pm on Saturday nights.

The research also highlights the changing face of the British holiday in the face of the credit crunch – nearly half (45 per cent) admit they won’t let the cold economic climate freeze their plans to head to warmer shores. Instead they are adapting plans to fit in with the recession - 43 per cent are planning to opt for cheaper accommodation and travel, and a cheery 40 per cent agree that taking a less luxurious holiday than usual won’t affect their enjoyment.

We’re also putting more thought into how we source holidays - a massive 84 per cent of us check out deals on up to 10 websites before making a decision on our travel provider, and 79 per cent are using the internet more than a year ago.

easyCar.com CEO Bill Jones comments “While the credit crunch is indeed causing people to think more about how they are spending, it’s not dampening the nation’s holiday spirit. Instead of seeing customers stall their plans to go away, they’re opting for locations that will make their money go further and becoming more adventurous in the process!

“However, at easyCar we also know that people are having to adapt to changing financial circumstances so we’re introducing benefits like our fully refundable cancellation policy* to ensure our customers are ready for whatever the economy has to throw at them!”

Easing the credit crunch a little more, easyCar.com now offers a no cancellation fee policy within seven days of making the booking, as long as the cancellation is made up to 24 hours before your pick up date and time. Outside of this window we now offer you a cancellation option which allows you to cancel your booking (again up to 24 hours before pick up) for 7.50 GBP per rental.