CHESTER has been named as the fifth most searched destination for a staycation as lockdown rules start to lift.

On average there were almost 22,000 searches for the city in the last month.

The gradual lifting of restriction has resulted in the UK’s Google trends average for ‘staycations’ rising by 89 per cent over the past month.

The 10 Most Searched UK Staycations:

Rank City Average Total Monthly Online Searches Searches per 100 People

1 York 168,980 104

2 Bath 40,290 40

3 Perth 13,770 32

4 Inverness 13,440 29

5 Chester 21,690 25

6 Bangor 3,900 24

7 Manchester 123,950 22

8 Cambridge 29,720 20

9 Newcastle upon Tyne 54,930 19

10 Liverpool 109,530 19

Eager to find out which are the most popular cities for a UK holiday, experts from OnBuy.com’s outdoor recreation department utilized online analytics tool SEM Rush to reveal where in the UK people are most searching online to potentially visit this year.

The total search volumes were divided by the corresponding population of each city and multiplied by the value of 100 to calculate monthly searches per 100 people.

York is the UK’s most searched location for a city break with 104 searches a month per 100 people. Famed for its Cathedral and haunted streets, this North Eastern city received a total of 168,980 Google inquiries into taking a trip, with 96,560 monthly searches for ‘hotels in York’.

Ranking as the second most popular UK city for a holiday this year is Bath with 40 searches per 100 people, totalling 40,290 online searches a month – 76% lower than York. Those looking to head to the home of the UK’s largest natural springs this summer are most interested in local activities, with 30,250 searches for ‘things to do in Bath.’

Standing as the third most popular destination for a UK staycation is Perth with a monthly search volume average of 32 searches per 100 people. Out of the 13,770 monthly Google inquiries into taking a trip to this Scottish city 51% are looking into ‘things to do in Perth’ (7,070 searches).

Following closely behind are Inverness (29 searches per 100 people), Chester (25 searches per 100 people) and Bangor (24 searches per 100 people) respectively ranking fourth, fifth and sixth.

For further information visit: https://www.onbuy.com/gb/outdoor-recreation/