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Almost two thirds of UK travellers surveyed said they wouldn't try so-called 'standing seats 'on a short-haul flight. This was in response to recent remarks by Ryanair's flamboyant chief Michael O'Leary who said his new vertical seats idea would usher in a new style of flying... and a revelation that an Italian company has indeed developed a standing seat. (see picture right)

However, a third of customers questioned in the survey by HolidayExtras.com said they would consider the idea, and only 13 per cent insisted that they'd have to pass safety standards first. For the other 20 per cent, price was a more important consideration.

The seats were slightly more popular with women than men, with 34 per cent of women saying they'd be prepared to give them a go, compared with 32 per cent of men.

Mike Whiting, Managing Editor of HolidayExtras.com, said: "It's clear that our customers have reservations about standing up while flying.

"Some will, of course, be attracted by the lower prices, but even if the seats get safety approval, standing for up to a couple of hours will be an uncomfortable option for many."

Michelle Curry of Celbridge, County Kildare, has won a crossing from Belfast to Liverpool for a car and four passengers courtesy of Norfolkline (DFDS). The prize was an incentive for voting for the Best Tourist Information Centre.

A prize of £500 off a holiday booking was won by Caoimhe Loughran from Lurgan. The prize was presented by Northern Ireland Travel News for voting for the Travel Agent of the Year.

And Mrs Helena Gamble of Poyntzpass wins a Weekend Break in the Hilton Hotel, Templepatrick, for voting for the Visitor Attraction of the Year.

Of the 14,000 people who responded to the online survey on holiday review site Zoover.com, 44 per cent said they were most impressed by the Greek hotspots.

Second place went to Spain, which won 17 per cent of the votes while Croatia came in third with 16 per cent.

According to the site, which claims to attract 75 million visitors a year, Samos is the favourite Greek island. It scored an average of 8.6 marks out of 10.

The Portuguese islands were voted the least attractive, although the Azores and Madeira did get scored of more than 7 out of 10, while UK's islands were in ninth place. Obviously our weather didn't help.

In 2009 Europe also grew in terms of place of embarkation, with 4.8 million passengers departing on cruises from European ports in 2009 (+3.2 per cent), and destination, with estimates of almost 24 million passenger visits in European ports (+9.4 per cent).

Italy and Greece are Europe's favourite cruise destinations, each boasting 20 per cent of the continent's passenger visits, followed by Spain (17 per cent) and France (eight per cent).

The upshot of the positive trend in 2009 was further growth in the overall economic impact of the European cruise industry, which accounted last year for around 300,000 jobs and was worth an estimated 34 billion Euros total output (+5.9 per cent compared to 2008).