• 51% of US travelers admit to retouching their vacation photos to make them more likable on social media - ahead of all the other countries surveyed
  • US travelers are also the least cynical with 52% thinking that people who share photos on social media during their holiday are having a great time - compared to just 20% of British travelers
  • 52% of American travelers book their holiday based on its 'insta-worthiness' coming in third behind Spanish (55%) and Italian (58%) holidaymakers

LONDON – Social media is taking an ever-increasing place in our lives and research by online travel agent eDreams.net shows it now plays a big part in our holiday habits, from picking the perfect spot to retouching the photos of our time away.

The study reveals that 52% of US travelers book their vacation based on its 'insta-worthiness' (destinations beautiful enough to post on Instagram) coming in third place behind Spanish (55%) and Italian (58%) travelers. By contrast, only 14% of British holidaymakers care about their chosen destination's social media impact.

When it comes to sharing holiday photos on social media, US travelers are the biggest filter addicts with 51% admitting to using editing tricks before posting their vacation photos. French and Italian travelers take second and third place with 49% and 47% respectively while only 1 in 5 Brits admit to retouching their vacation pictures.

Additionally, US travelers appear to be the least cynical with 52% of them thinking people who post a lost during their vacation are having a good time; this is in contrast to 40% of British travelers who think a flurry of holiday photo posts means the travelers in question are show-offs.

Influencers you say? When it comes down to the role of key social media influencers as a source of inspiration for travel, the research shows that US travelers are not especially influenced by them. In fact, only 1 in 10 admit to having booked a holiday to a destination that appeared on someone else's Instagram page, similar to Italian travelers (with 11%). This diminishes even further with the other nations surveyed with only 5% of Brits and Spanish, 6% of Germans and Portuguese and 8% of French holidaymakers being inspired by social media influencers for their destination choice.

Robert McNamara, from eDreams, said: "We know that creating a picture-perfect life on social media is a growing trend, especially among millennials. With this new research, we see that US travelers are embracing this trend more than any other nation we surveyed."

Research conducted by One Poll for eDream.net. 8,000 people who have travelled by plane were polled in Germany, France, Spain, UK, Portugal, Italy and US.

About eDreams

eDreams.net is one of the world's leading online travel agencies, with a presence in 33 countries and the widest product mix available on the market, offering consumers over 155,000 flight-routes from 610 airlines and over 2,100,000 hotels in 40,000 destinations. The company develops and uses cutting edge tools to search millions of flight and hotel combinations, ensuring customers get the best price and greatest convenience.

About eDreams ODIGEO

eDreams ODIGEO is one of the world's largest online travel companies and one of the largest European e-commerce businesses. Under its four leading online travel agency brands - eDreams, GO Voyages, Opodo, Travellink, and the metasearch engine Liligo - it offers the best deals in regular flights, low-cost airlines, hotels, cruises, car rental, dynamic packages, holiday packages and travel insurance to make travel easier, more accessible, and better value for the more than 18.5 million customers it serves across 43 markets. eDreams ODIGEO is listed in the Spanish Stock Market.

For more information please contact the press office team at: [email protected].