Most popular travel destinations... hot spots...

Most popular spots, hot trends in travel

http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/fea/travel/thisweek/stories/DN-trends08side_0120tra.ART.State.Edition1.3824e31.html

12:00 AM CST on Sunday, January 20, 2008

From Wire Reports Beth J. Harpaz, The Associated Press

Here are some of the hot spots, trends and statistics for travel in the new year.

U.S. Tour Operators Association: For the fifth straight year, Italy placed first as the most popular international destination for vacation packages and tours, according to an annual informal poll of tour-operators association member companies.
Croatia, followed by China, were the hottest up-and-coming countries for tours and packages.

Yahoo Travel: Yahoo Travel's destinations that got the biggest increase in page views in Yahoo Travel Guides were Lancaster, Pa.; Ocean City, N.J.; South Lake Tahoe, Calif.; Wildwood, N.J.; Helen, Ga.; and Pigeon Forge, Tenn.

Lonely Planet: Top 10 destinations for 2008, according to a survey of the guidebook publisher's U.S. staffers, are the U.S., with an emphasis on national parks and Hawaii; Mexico, with an emphasis on Mexico City and the Pacific Coast; Argentina; Japan; India and Canada (tied); Australia and China (tied); Spain and France.

JWT top travel trends: Top trends identified by JWT, the largest ad agency in the U.S.: "Staycations," where travelers stay close to home and take long weekends instead of weeks away; cruising; volunteer vacations; climate sightseeing; and couch-surfing (using the Internet to find strangers who will put you up in their home when you travel).

Also: medical tourism; babymoons (couples take a vacation before their first baby arrives); and "trans-entertainment" (Wi-Fi transportation making it easier to watch videos or surf the Web while traveling).

Outbound travel statistics: According to the U.S. Commerce Department's Office of Travel & Tourism Industries, air travel by U.S. citizens January to September 2007 was up 2 percent to Europe, down 3.1 percent to the Caribbean, up 8.6 percent to Asia, up 7.6 percent to South America, up 8 percent to Central America, and down 3.4 percent to Canada. (Source: http://tinet.ita.doc.gov/view/m-2007-O-001/index .html.)