European city breaks are growing in popularity and make a real contribution to tourism figures, accordin got European Cities Marketing, an association representing more than a hundred cities, convention bureaus and tourist boards.  According to their figures, Europe’s top city destinations generated €540m (£426.5m) in 2006, substantially more than 2005.

The cities close to airports showed an increased demand for hotels, such as Dublin, Tallinn and Zurich.

Demand for city breaks is set to grow in the next few years because of changes in habits for travel and low-cost flights.

Reed Travel Exhibitions representative, Mark Walsh, said:

“The sheer size of the city break market is immense: city tourism nowadays accounts for almost 40% of the total European outbound trip volumes.  Based on these facts approximately 20% of international tourism receipts are generated in European cities. This all underpins the buoyant market of this rapidly expanding industry.”