Hotels.com Makes Dublin Unrecognisable To A Third Of Irish People
Released
on: November 18, 2009, 1:08 pm
Author: Hotels.com
Industry: Travel
New research from Hotels.com has shown that one in three Irish
people fail to recognise their own capital city landscape without its
iconic Ha'penny Bridge. An incredible 32% of Irish people were stumped
by an image of their capital city when the memorable bridge was
airbrushed out of the picture. While 68% weren't fooled, 28% confused
the image of Dublin with Amsterdam.
UK neighbours also struggled to recognise Dublin city's landscape when asked to
identify it without the Ha'penny Bridge. 75% of those surveyed in the UK thought
Dublin was Amsterdam in the photo, with only 22% recognising the city without the
landmark.
The landmark quiz also revealed
that the Irish were quicker to recognise other cities, including London (88%), Paris
(87%) and Sydney (76%) before their own home town, even when the key landmarks (Big
Ben, the Eiffel Tower and the Opera House) in these cities were omitted from the
view.
Hotels.com polled more than 10,000 travellers across the globe, to see just how many
cities they recognised after a key landmark had been removed.
Nearly two thirds (63%) of Irish people have travelled to a city just to see an
iconic landmark, according to the findings. Of the world's most famous landmarks,
the overall favourites were the Eiffel Tower in Paris (15%), while one in ten chose
New York's Empire State Building (10%) and San Francisco's Golden Bridge (10%).
These landmarks were followed in popularity by the Taj Mahal in India and The
Vatican in Rome.
Despite the rise in the UK of the mini break, the research showed that it's our
neighbouring European cities that we know the least. Less than half (48%) of Irish
travellers recognised Barcelona without Gaudi's Sagrada Familia; 38% spotted Pisa
without its Leaning Tower, and just 36% recognised Berlin without the Berlin TV
Tower.
Ireland fared better when looking across the water to the UK however, with a greater
number of Irish people recognising the London skyline (89%) without Big Ben than the
Brits themselves. Only 83% of British people surveyed recognised their own capital
without the iconic clock.
When it comes to long haul destinations, iconic landmarks seem to resonate well in
the visual memory. The Hotels.com research showed that over three quarters of all
Irish (76%) recognised Sydney without the Opera House and similarly Rio was
identified correctly by 81% of travellers even after the Christ the Redeemer statue
had been removed.
Alison Couper, Communications Director for Hotels.com, said: "It's interesting to
see just how important a city's iconic landmark is when it comes to recognising the
destination. This quirky survey shows that it is the cities which have a famous and
world renowned landmark, such as the Sydney Opera House or the Eiffel Tower that
tend to resonate more in our minds."
ENDS
About Hotels.com
As part of the Expedia group which operates in all major markets, Hotels.com offers
more than 100,000 quality hotels, B&Bs and serviced apartments worldwide including
cheap New York hotels,
hotels in London,
hotels in Edinburgh
and hotels in Dublin. If a
customer can find the same deal for less on a prepaid hotel, Hotels.com will match
it. Hotels.com benefits from one of the largest hotel contracting teams in the
industry negotiating the best rates for its customers, plus there are 1.3m reviews
from users who have actually stayed in the hotels to ensure customers make an
informed choice when booking. Hotels.com won the Gold Award for best hotel booking
site in Webuser magazine in February 2009.
For further information:
Cordy Griffiths
Hotels.com
42 Earlham St
Covent Garden
London
WC2H 9LA
020 7019 2268
www.hotels.co.uk