Leading holiday destination finder and budget travel website WhichBudget.com, has reported significant increases in flight and holiday searches for the top destinations in the Post Office Travel Money’s Long Haul Holiday Report 2010.

Sri Lanka, which topped the value rating this year, received 18% more flight search requests from January to September 2010 compared with the same period in 2009, while second placed Mexico recorded a 38% increase. Last year’s leader Thailand still reported a 17% increase in search requests, demonstrating the destination’s continued appeal despite the Thai Baht strengthening by 12.7% and political unrest earlier in the year.

Sri Lanka has made huge strides forward as a holiday destination after the army defeated the Tamil Tigers in May 2009, bringing to an end 27 years of ethnic civil war. The country is a holiday makers paradise which is relatively unspoilt by mass tourism and representing value for money not seen anywhere else in the region. If you love the tropics Sri Lanka is definitely the place to go, says Neil Holms, director of marketing at Tropical Destinations.

Martino Matijevic, CEO of WhichBudget, said “It is clear that WhichBudget’s savvy users are fully aware of the budget potential of long-haul destinations. In line with the Post Office Travel Money’s Long Haul Holiday Report, Mexico is becoming one of the most popular destinations on our flight and destination search tool helped by the launch of a new service from Gatwick to Cancun by British Airways”.

–