US travel company Expedia Group this week announced its top destinations for 2024, with the popular Cyclades island of Paros making it to the “Top 3”.
The list is part of the company’s comprehensive guide to travel trends, called “Unpack ‘24”, the result of first-party travel data collected from 20,000 Expedia users through 2023.
According to the survey, “Expedia’s 2024 destinations … are destination ‘dupes’ – places that are a little unexpected, sometimes more affordable, and every bit as delightful as the tried-and-true destinations travelers love.”
Besides Paros, Pattaya in Thailand and Perth, Australia, are in the top three. Paros is considered a “dupe” for its more popular and expensive neighbor Santorini.
Unpack ‘24 adds that “the 2024 destination dupes all experienced a notable uptick in searches over the past year. In fact, global searches for the Top 5 destinations on the list (Taipei, Pattaya, Paros, Curaçao and Perth) more than doubled, year to year”.
Travel trends for 2024
Unpack ‘24 also predicted what it calls the most popular travel trends of 2024”, such as “dry tripping”, which means vacationing without consuming alcohol.
Another is “Tour-tourism”, or travelling to go see a concert. “Nearly 70 percent of the survey respondents said they are more likely to travel to a concert outside their own town, with over 40 percent saying they’d travel for a concert as an excuse to visit a new place.”
Finally, another upcoming trend is “Go-cassions”, meaning “going on a trip for a specific occasion”. The survey mentions that “one-third of travelers [are] planning to take more trips with family and friends next year than in 2023, they’re going all in on identifying occasions to book a getaway to a private vacation home to celebrate together.”
