ALMOST half of holidaymakers book trips without having any idea what their chosen destination is like, according to a survey.

Asked why they had done no research on their foreign resort, the majority of these "blind bookers" said they did want to "over-complicate" things, the poll by travel agent sunshine.co.uk found.

For around 25% of the blind bookers, just the look of the hotel was enough to settle the choice of destination, while 78% said their lack of research had not prevented them having "a very good" holiday.

A total of 39% of the recent holidaymakers quizzed had done research on their chosen destination before booking, 13% were revisiting a resort and 48% said they had done no research at all.

Sunshine.co.uk managing director Chris Clarkson said: "It always pays to do some homework before booking a holiday. If you book somewhere without checking a few things first you might be disappointed on arrival."