ROME-According to a fresh Eurostat report, in 2012, EU28 residents prefer to remain in Europe as out of the 1.2 billion trips made, over 3/4 were made within the European boundaires.

 Of the number of total trips, 76 percent were made within the country of residence, while 24 percent were made outside. For these outbound trips, the main destination for EU28 residents was Europe with 85.4 percent-the top 3 destinations for outbound trips for residents of the EU28 were Spain, France and Italy.

 Closely following was Asia (4.5 percent), Africa (4.1 percent), North America (3.8 percent), Central and South America (1.9 percent) and Oceania (0.4 percent).

 Almost half of these trips, 48 percent, were for holidays and leisure, whilst 35 percent were visits to relatives and friends, 13 percent for business and 4 percent for other reasons.

 The average trip length was 5.2 nights. The most common means of transport for trips was private or rented carswith 65 percent, followed by air planes with 15 percent and trains with 12 percent, buses with 6 percent and water vessels with 2 percent.