With the arrival of a new year, thoughts may turn to projects for the months ahead, including vacation plans. Nearly four years after the pandemic closed borders, Asia stands out as the top-trending direction of travel in 2024, according to review site Tripadvisor.
Every year, the platform analyses millions of comments, as well as the variation in the ratings given to hotels and restaurants, to identify places that are attracting the most interest from internet users.
In the resulting 10 destinations named as the trending travel hotspots for the year, Asia not only takes the top five spots but also counts a total of eight entries… and yes, Malaysia does make the cut!
Tripadvisor considers Tokyo to be the top trending destination for 2024. If the forecast proves right, this popularity would build on a success story that began with the reopening of Japan’s borders in October 2022.
Between January and June alone, 10.7 million visitors travelled to Japan, more than during the pre-pandemic period in 2019. By the summer of 2023, no fewer than four million hikers had made their way to Mount Fuji.
In fact, the Japanese authorities have announced plans to introduce an entry quota to avoid the sacred mountain turning into an overwhelmed tourist attraction.
It remains to be seen whether this predicted popularity will be confirmed over the coming months, and whether the recent earthquake on the Noto Peninsula or the fire on a Japan Airlines Airbus A350 at Haneda airport might have dampened travellers’ enthusiasm.
Meanwhile, Vietnam is the only country in the top 10 to benefit from two representatives, namely Halong Bay and the town of Sapa, a gateway to trekking in the country’s mountains. Otherwise, South Korea and its capital Seoul, and Palawan Island in the Philippines rank highly in the list.
Asia’s strong potential presence – based on the greatest on-year growth in interest on the platform – varies markedly from Tripadvisor’s list of most popular hotspots in recent years. Dubai, for example, tops the list of travellers’ favourite destinations for the third year running, followed by Bali and London.
The top 10 trending travel destinations for 2024 according to
- TripAdvisor are:
- Tokyo (Japan)
- Seoul (South Korea)
- Halong Bay (Vietnam)
- Palawan Island (Philippines)
- Sapa (Vietnam)
- Bogotá (Colombia)
- Pattaya (Thailand)
- Alajuela (Costa Rica)
- Phnom Penh (Cambodia)
- Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia)