Stamford, Connecticut – 27 January 2017
With a new year, comes new vacation aspirations and travel resolutions. Kayak’s 2017 Travel Hacker Guide, featuring insights from over one billion searches, reveals the top destinations of the year along with data-driven insights on when to book, when to travel and what to expect once you arrive.
- Havana is this year’s sweet spot. With travel to Cuba recently opening back up, searches to the city skyrocketed with a 191% increase.
- South America is in, the U.S. Caribbean is out. Colombia saw a surge in interest, with both Cartagena and Medellín making the Top Trending list, while St. Croix and St. Thomas both saw a decrease in interest since last year.
- Greater accessibility to the South Pacific is making the region more attractive. Auckland and Sydney made appearances on two lists: Trending Destinations and Trending Beach Destinations, likely from the addition of new flight routes in the last year.
- Beach lovers, take note: it’s all about Asia this year. Kayak’s Trending Beach list reveals that five Asian cities – all newcomers to the Travel Hacker Guide – made this year’s list: Phuket, Bali, Colombo, Maldives and Okinawa.
- Long flights don’t intimidate family travelers. Honolulu, London and Cancun all returned to this year’s list, along with New Delhi, which took spot #9.
- Deal-seekers – check out Europe. Six European cities made the Wallet-Friendly Flight list, and with the low Euro, deal seekers can score a more affordable trip to Dublin or Milan. While the remaining cities may be a deal to fly to, they aren’t so affordable once you arrive (Reykjavik, Oslo, Stockholm and Copenhagen).
“News headlines, new flight routes and favorable exchange rates are key influences to this year’s Travel Hacker Guide,” said David Solomito, VP North America Marketing at KAYAK. “As a result of these trends, South America, Asia and the South Pacific have a stronger presence on the Guide compared to previous years.”
