With less than 9 weeks to go before the opening match of the much anticipated Brazil 2014 World Cup, Cartrawler has analysed car booking and query trends in the major participating countries.

Thirty two countries from around the world will travel in hope to twelve host cities spread all over this vast country. Not since USA '94 have the fixtures been so dispersed, making getting around a logistical challenge and potentially expensive for football supporters making the trip.

Despite this, our data suggests that many supporters are still planning on making the trip. By analysing car booking information and booking query surges for Brazil during the championship period, we've been able to compile a top ten list indicating early travel trends for countries participating in the competition.

So who's booking cars?

USA tops the rankings in terms of car rental bookings with an 829% increase on the same period last year. This may be reflective of the fact that USA has received the second highest allocation of match tickets (125,446) for the World Cup finals.

Championship second seeds Germany, record an extraordinary increase in car rental bookings with a 1,140% increase on the period in 2013.  German travellers are also generating a significant number of booking queries indicating that they are planning their trips, shopping around and may travel to the event in large numbers.

English car rentals bookings have recorded an impressive 550% increase and is placed third in both bookings and query rankings.

France, who have not had any luck at major tournaments since 2006, rank within the top ten for both car rental queries and bookings, coming in number 5 and 9 respectively.  In fact, car rental bookings for 'Les Bleus' have experienced an increase of 200% compared to the same period last year, perhaps signalling a confidence in their hopeful fans making the trip.

Land-based neighbour and keen competitor Uruguay have also recorded a significant increase in bookings – up 1,050% on last year.

Defending champions Spain, does not make it into the top ten of confirmed bookings yet it ranks number 8 for queries, displaying a modest 14% increase on last year. Perhaps this reflects the economic difficulties at home however, we should not rule out a late surge as the finals approach.

Finally, it looks like the football mad Brazilian hosts are staying at home this year to enjoy the show as reflected by a 94% drop in outbound car rental queries and bookings during the period of the championship. According to FIFA, World Football's governing body, the host nation's supporters received approximately 57% of the 2.3m tickets allocated to fans.

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About CarTrawler

Established in 2004, CarTrawler is a leading technology company providing fully managed online car rental solutions to travel partners in 174 countries. Working across all travel industry segments and geographic markets, CarTrawler enables online travel retailers to add car rental to their portfolio of products and services, creating an additional revenue stream that requires no investment on their part. The business is led by CEO Mike McGearty and a highly experienced Executive Team headquartered in Dublin, Ireland.

The CarTrawler technology platform enables partners to offer self-branded car rental to their own customers from 1,200 leading and independent car rental agents at over 30,000 city and airport locations worldwide. Multi-lingual customer and IT support is provided by CarTrawler 24 hours per day, 365 days per year to all partners and suppliers operating on the platform.

The global car rental marketplace continues to expand and the latest valuation by Euromonitor estimates its worth at over €44 billion annually. CarTrawler's own constant growth has been achieved both organically and by acquisition since launching in 2004. The company continues to attract top car rental and travel brands to its platform which sustains this strong cycle of profitability and expansion of its global footprint.

CarTrawler's portfolio of partners includes some of the world's leading international airlines, hotel groups and online travel retailers. More than 50 international airlines offer a combined total of over 300 million airline passengers car rental powered by CarTrawler including; Aer Lingus, Tigerair, West Jet, Volotea, Vueling, Virgin Australia, Transavia, Emirates, Viva Aerobus, Fly Dubai, South African Airways, Finn Air, Malaysian Airlines, Iceland Air, Hawaiian Airlines, Norwegian, Wizz Air, and Gulf Air.

CarTrawler also works with travel software providers Datalex and SITA who resell CarTrawler technology to airlines.

CarTrawler also provides car rental to online lodgings (hotels, rented accommodation and hostels), online travel agents, information websites (media, tourist authorities and airports) travel and transportation (car rental, rail and ferry websites) and retail travel agents including: Starwood Hotels, Webjet.com.au, Hostelworld, Lastminute.com, Villarenters, STA Travel, Skyscanner, Travix, Online Republic, Lowcostholidays.com, The Trainline.com, Via Michelin, Flightnetwork, Travelstart, HolidayExtras, Air Canada Vacations and Flightcentre. CarTrawler also owns Arguscarhire.com and acquired the online assets of Holiday Autos in 2013.

CarTrawler is committed to investing for the future. The company employs 180 skilled graduates at its Dundrum base and is one of Ireland's leading technology employers recruiting from third and fourth level university courses in Ireland and internationally.

For more information visit www.cartrawler.com

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For further information please contact: James Read james.read@theprnetwork.co.uk