Top 25 Bank Holiday destinations this weekend according to the Internet

• Edinburgh Zoo makes top ten list for UK bank holiday destinations

• Surge in searches for the answer to family days out on Ask.com reveals our plans for the weekend

Britain's zoos can bank on a rush of business this weekend - as families use the Internet to help plan their day-trip outings.

Nine of the most searched-for Bank Holiday family days out in the UK are zoos, according to leading search engine Ask.com.

And while London dominates the top search results - five out of the top ten attractions are in the capital - it's Chester Zoo that wins the top spot as Britain's most searched-for Bank Holiday attraction, beating London Zoo into second place.

This being Britain, however, it seems we've also been making provisions for bad weather - just in case the forecasters are proved right.

Indoor venues including the Natural History Museum, the Science Museum and the Imperial War Museum figure highly in the list of star attractions.

Mums and dads at a loss with what to do with the kids this weekend have turned to the Internet.

"We've seen a surge in searches for family days out and specific queries related to opening times, ticket prices and travel directions," said Ask.com Managing Director Cesar Mascaraque.

"It's a sign of our times - we used to have to phone attractions up and listen to a recorded message take forever to tell you when they were open and how much a ticket was. These days people just start up the computer and find out everything they want to know in a couple of clicks."

Museums figure highly in the list of the top 25 searched for days out, with the Tate Modern, Victoria and Albert Museum, London Transport Museum, Beaulieu Motor Museum and Brooklands Museum all featuring on Britain's most searched for Bank Holiday destination list.

And theme parks are also attracting their share of traffic. Alton Towers is the most searched for theme park in the UK, followed by Blackpool Pleasure Beach, Thorpe Park and Windsor's Legoland.

The advent of the Internet has seen a new marketing tool in the quest for attracting visitors:

"Tourist attractions are growing ever more sophisticated in how they present information to the public. People are actively turning to the net to discover details they would traditionally have had to use the phone for. So it's massively important to any business to make sure that when people search, they find a good website with all the info people need," said Cesar.

Britain's Top 25 Bank Holiday Destinations.

Listed according to number of specific search requests to Ask.com:

1.      Chester Zoo

2.      London Zoo

3.      Natural History Museum

4.      Alton Towers

5.      Warwick Castle

6.      Science Museum

7.      Imperial War Museum

8.      Edinburgh Zoo

9.      Tate Modern

10.  Blackpool Pleasure Beach

11.  Whipsnade Zoo

12.  Thorpe Park

13.  Victoria and Albert Museum

14.  Bristol Zoo

15.  Eden Project

16.  Blackpool Zoo

17.  Legoland

18.  London Transport Museum

19.  Leeds Castle

20.  Paignton Zoo

21.  Beaulieu Motor Museum

22.  Brooklands Museum

23.  Howletts Zoo

24.  Dudley Zoo

25.  Castle Howard