As we get into the swing of 2015, industry organizations are releasing new data on what destinations will be hot this year. Here are the top spots to keep on your radar, based on recent surveys by Fly.com and Priceline.
According to Fly.com's New Year Travel Resolutions Survey, Australia has moved ahead of Italy to become North America's most desired destination for 2015.
Islands in the South Pacific dominate the list this year, as New Zealand and Fiji rank third and fourth respectively.
In Europe, the rising destination is Greece – a country that finished a very close sixth behind perennial favorite France.
Conversely, South Africa and Spain are no longer trending as top destinations compared with two years ago. In addition, far fewer travelers wish to vacation within the United States next year.
Broken down regionally some trends emerge. Canadian travelers were split between European and island destinations – and were the only group that listed French Polynesia and the Maldives in the top 10. In the U.S. Midwest, residents favor warm-weather destinations closer to home like Aruba and Belize. In the South and Northeast, travelers put Japan in their top 10 list – the only regions to pick an Asian country (other than Canada and the Maldives). Italy was in the top two destinations for every region except the South, where Australia, New Zealand and Fiji took the top three spots. The western states favored European destinations, including Croatia and Norway. Lastly all regions, except for the Northeast, ranked the United Kingdom as a desirable destination – surprising given its close proximity.
Mexico Tops Priceline's List
Mexico continues to build travel buzz heading into 2015, as two destinations within the country made Priceline's list of top travel hot spots for the coming year.
In Priceline's Top 2015 Travel Hot Spots, Cancun / Cozumel ranked #2 and Los Cabos ranked #8 in the list of top 10 international destinations.
*Denotes cities that were not included on priceline.com’s 2014 top destinations list.
Priceline's annual list of top 2015 destinations is based on advanced hotel reservations.
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