A beach holiday is popular among travellers. — Picture courtesy of shutterstock.comLONDON, May 21 — Over half of us intend to hit the beach over the next year, a new survey has predicted.

In resounding defence of the popularity of beach holidays, Expedia’s annual “Flip flop” survey found that more of us plan to head to the beach this year than last year. Fifty-two per cent of the travellers surveyed this year plan some sun-and-sand time compared to 45 percent of travellers in 2011.

The survey, which questioned the beach-going habits of over 8,000 people in 21 nations, found that the average amount of time we’ll spend on the sand is 7.7 days — although that masked huge regional differences, with Koreans averaging just 3.2 days on each beach trip and Argentineans favouring an average length of 11 days.

Germany was the most “beach-loving country” Expedia found, with 49 per cent of German respondents saying that they’d prefer the beach to any other type of vacation, followed by 48 per cent of Mexicans and 47 per cent of Argentineans.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, the cost of the trip is most likely to determine where we throw down our towels, Expedia found, although the beach quality came in second in the decisions about where to go.

The appeal of exploring varied by nation — Indians were found to love seeking new beaches, while Americans rated new destinations as among the least important factors.

The desire to explore the water also varied by nation, Expedia found, with Mexicans the most likely to dive in, followed by Germans, Canadians and Indians — who are surprisingly, the most surf-crazed nationality, outranking Australia in second place when it came to riding the waves. — AFP-Relaxnews