LONDON, April 28 /PRNewswire/ —

We Brits may not like the idea of losing the pound sterling
and joining the Eurozone, but we are increasingly open to the international
currency of love.

According to new research by PARSHIP, Europe’s largest
matchmaking service for singles wanting a committed relationship, the last 12
months have seen a three fold increase in the number of UK singles looking to
date someone in a foreign country. In fact, three million UK singles are
looking for a serious long distance relationship (LDR). That’s 20ACIORFIPROCENTE of
Britain’s 15 million singles. But if you think this trend is being driven by
a lack of suitable partners in the UK it’s not. With the increased cost of
cross country rail travel in the UK compared to air travel, it’s now twice as
expensive to date someone living in another UK city than it is a European.

Now 30ACIORFIPROCENTE more likely than their mainland cousins to develop a
cross-border relationship, British singles are taking a more adventurous
attitude towards international affairs. Of the those looking for a LDR, 38ACIORFIPROCENTE
said it was due to cheap air travel, - *a flight within Europe (GBP47.38) is
on average 40ACIORFIPROCENTE cheaper than a return train ticket from London to any major
British city (GBP81.54) - 26ACIORFIPROCENTE attributed it to a desire to learn more about
different cultures, and 28ACIORFIPROCENTE said they already spoke a second language. What’s
more, nearly a quarter of singles (22ACIORFIPROCENTE) said they would happily enter a
long-distance committed relationship, even if they had no plans to live in
the same country as their partner.

Dave (47) from England met Ingrid (51) from Austria. “Ingrid
and I have been happily dating for three years now and we are deeply in love,
although we have no plans to live together in the near future. I live with my
son in the UK and Ingrid lives with her children in Austria; we see each
other regularly, share holidays and we are constantly in touch. For us this
is the perfect relationship.”
Of the 60,000 people studied by PARSHIP, topping the list of
foreign men that British women would most like to date are the smooth-talking
Irish (11ACIORFIPROCENTE), French (11ACIORFIPROCENTE) and Italians (11ACIORFIPROCENTE), followed by the Danes (10ACIORFIPROCENTE),
Dutch (10ACIORFIPROCENTE) and Swiss (10ACIORFIPROCENTE). British men favored the Nordic touch with Swedes
(14ACIORFIPROCENTE) and Germans (14ACIORFIPROCENTE), closely followed by the Swiss (13ACIORFIPROCENTE), Dutch (12ACIORFIPROCENTE) and
Danish (12ACIORFIPROCENTE).

Tony Blin-Stoyle, Director of PARSHIP UK and Ireland,
commented:

“There is an established tradition of cross-cultural
relationships and marriages in the UK, but the emergence and acceptance of
Internet dating, together with cheaper air travel, has made it easier than
ever to meet someone from abroad. Not only is PARSHIP Europe’s largest
matchmaking service, but we also match people with a scientific compatibility
test. The service is all about the way two people’s deeper personalities
intermesh, so it talks the universal language of love from the word go.”
Gwen (35) from Hamburg and Alastair (38) London dated
Internationally for one year before settling in London. Gwen commented:
“Alastair and I originally met in our early 20’s but as we were both living
in different countries it wasn’t viable to have a relationship. Then, 10
years on we met again by chance. Due to the low cost air travel we were able
to see each other every other weekend and sometime more often, flying to
Germany, the UK and Italy at a cost of around GBP80 a month. We are now
getting married this summer.”
Commenting on the PARSHIP research Ryanair Sales and Marketing
Executive, Ashley Casey said:

“It was only a matter of time before single people started to
look further afield for relationships and Ryanair is delighted to be of
assistance for people in Long Distance Relationships. Rail Travel has gone up
in price making it hard to travel around England let alone Europe. With
Ryanair’s guaranteed low air fares it makes it easier for couples to commit
to a European long term relationship without paying huge amounts for travel
on a weekly basis. Forget the train and find out more on our fantastic
selection of European Destinations or to book the lowest fares guaranteed at
http://www.ryanair.com”
Notes to Editors

Flights v rail travel

*As of 14thApril 2008 the average cost of the cheapest return
ticket, traveling on Saturday 24th May from London to seven major UK cities,
returning on Monday 28th April cost GBP81.54. The equivalent flight with
Ryanair on the same dates, London to seven European cities, cost GBP47.38
including all taxes and charges.

Return flights 24th - 28th May 2008

Flying from London to:

Sweden GBP19.98
Netherland GBP37.30
Spain GBP39.30
Hamburg GBP48.96
Norway GBP50.75
Ireland GBP56.84
Italy GBP78.56

Return train 24th - 28th May 2008

Train from London to:

Manchester GBP176.40
Birmingham GBP92.00
Leeds GBP79.20
York GBP79.20
Liverpool GBP62.00
Cardiff GBP57.00
Brighton GBP25.00

LONDON, April 28 /PRNewswire/ —

About the research

The study was based on a random sample of 60,000 PARSHP
members based in the UK and was conducted in March 2008. To establish the
acceptance of long distance relationships within the European community,
6,000 singles were surveyed by market research institute Innofact aged
between 18 and 59, from 13 Western European countries.

About PARSHIP.co.uk

PARSHIP.co.uk is the British subsidiary of PARSHIP, Europe’s
largest premium online matchmaking service. It is specifically for people who
are serious about forming a lasting relationship and is built on a rigorous
personality profiling test that determines compatibility. It has millions of
members across Europe, predominantly affluent, educated men and women between
28 and 55 years old.

Since its launch in Germany in 2001, PARSHIP has successfully
matched many thousands people, and it now operates in 13 countries of Western
Europe and also in Mexico

PARSHIP GmbH is headquartered in Hamburg and is part of the
Georg von Holtzbrinck publishing group, one of Germany’s largest publishing
companies with financial interests in more than 80 companies, including the
Macmillan Group.

Parship