Asian cities, off the beaten track in Europe

Americans flocked to the Asia-Pacific region in 2023, and this love affair is expected to continue into the new year.

Tokyo and Seoul, South Korea, rank first and second respectively among the most popular international hotspots in the coming year among U.S.-based travelers, according to travel app Hopper.

Kayak data shows a similar trend. Top five hotspots in Asia: Hong Kong; Shanghai; Taipei City, capital of Taiwan; Tokyo; and Osaka, Japan, respectively.

For example, searches for Hong Kong and Shanghai rose 355% and 216%, respectively, year-over-year, according to Kayak. (The travel site analyzed search traffic among Americans from March 16 to September 15 of this year, for travel planned in 2024, and compared it to the same period last year.)

Japan also ranks highly among non-U.S. travelers: Osaka, Kyoto and Tokyo are among the top 24 global destinations next year, according to Airbnb. Data.

Asian countries were among the slowest to ease border closures linked to the Covid-19 pandemic. Experts said that now that it has opened again, tourists are unleashing their pent-up wanderlust.

“People weren't able to travel there, and now they're making up for it,” said Sofia Markovic, a travel consultant and founder of Sofia Travel.

China It was reopened Its border in January 2023 is “one of the last places” to do so, Hafner said.

Japan has reopened to tourists as of June 2022. Other factors are driving increased interest in that nation, such as the historically strong US dollar compared to the Japanese yen (and other currencies), giving Americans additional purchasing power, and More flights Hafner said of budget airlines.

Airbnb said search traffic for Japan more than tripled for trips during the first nine months of 2024 compared to the same period in 2023 — a larger increase than for any other country.

Historically, Tokyo has been the most popular city for Americans to visit in Asia, said Hayley Berg, Hopper's chief economist. Demand is now “greater” than usual, she said.

Tourists may also pay a significant premium to fly to Asia next year: “good deal” prices for airfare to the continent are $1,204 for 2024, on average — 45% more than in 2019, a much larger increase compared to other continents, according to Hopper. .

Experts said that overcrowding in traditional European centers leads to an influx of tourists to less-visited areas in general.

For example, Stockholm, Sweden; Budapest, Hungary; Helsinki, Finland; Prague, Czech Republic, ranks seventh to tenth respectively on Kayak's list of popular destinations abroad.

Copenhagen, Denmark, is No. 4 in Hopper's 2024 hotspot rankings. Prague and Edinburgh, Scotland, come in seventh and eighth place, respectively.

“People are really discovering unfamiliar places,” Markovich said. “Because Paris, Rome, London and Barcelona are very crowded. Experienced travelers want to stay away from that.”

She recommends “a lot” of travel to Scandinavia because it “has not been spoiled by overtourism.”

In addition, Finland became a member of the NATO military alliance in 2023, raising awareness of the nation among Americans, Kayak's Hafner said.

Cities like Budapest and Prague have always been very popular but not to the extent of some European tourist attractions, Markovic said.

And one of those archetypal magnets — Paris — is gearing up for an extra wave this year: The City of Light is hosting the 2024 Summer Olympics.

Demand for flights to Paris — and nearby cities — during the Olympics has more than doubled compared to the same time last year, according to Hopper data.

Lower relative prices for some of Europe's less popular locations are also likely to attract people, Berg said, especially since average flights to Europe overall are 5% more expensive in 2024 versus 2023, at $717, Hopper data shows.

Although places like Cancun, Mexico, remain popular as warm-weather beach destinations, Americans are increasingly turning to tropical Atlantic vacations over the Caribbean, Hubers-Berg said.

“This is something new that we're starting to see emerge this year,” she said, and the trend will “definitely” continue in 2024.

For example, Tenerife, the largest of Spain's Canary Islands, and Funchal, the capital of the Portuguese Madeira archipelago, ranked ninth and tenth, respectively, on Hopper's list of international trends. Both are located off the coast of West Africa.

Although it's not on the Atlantic Ocean, Malaga, a Mediterranean port city located on the Costa del Sol in southern Spain, ranked sixth on Kayak's list. Andalusian city walk around 300 days of sunshine per year, on average, and according to one recent report, it is the No. 1 city in the world for expats.

Kayak data shows that search interest is up 60% year over year. This comes after a year in which Malaga was effectively “overrun,” Hafner said.

“I think the word has spread,” he said.

The cities of Vancouver, Calgary and Montreal in Canada ranked third, fifth and sixth, respectively, on Hopper's list of international trends for 2024.

Winter tourism will likely play a big role, Berg said.

“We have seen a real renaissance of Canadian ski destinations,” she said. “They rival a lot of European ski destinations.”

In addition, air travel to Canada is generally about a third of the price of a flight to Europe, Berg added.