Cuba’s Havana, Varadero among the Most Sought-After World Destinations in 2016
Hotel search website trivago.co.uk has revealed its ten up-and-coming destinations for 2016. First, trivago.com looked at the 200 most searched-for overseas destinations (regions, towns and cities) during 2015.
Then, the company compared to searches made during 2014, and selected ten destinations with the highest increase in hotel searches. This gave us a final list of popular and trending destinations, best visited as soon as possible.
Ranking:
1. Lapland, Finland
2. Havana, Cuba
3. Lake Buena Vista, Florida, USA
4. Stuttgart, Germany
5. Las Palmas, Gran Canaria, Spain
6. Saint-Tropez, France
7. Agios Nikolaos, Crete, Greece
8. Puerto de Alcudia, Mallorca, Spain
9. Varadero, Cuba
10. Marseille, France
With a 320 percent increase in travel interest, Lapland has the largest increase in searches compared to last year. The region in the north of Finland is a popular winter destination famed for the Northern Lights.
In second place is Cuba’s capital city, which has become largely popular in the past year due to the lifting of travel restrictions at the end of 2014. It is of no surprise to see a 200 percent increase in searches to Havana. The coastal town of Varadero follows as the ninth up-and-coming destination, with a 75 percent increase in travel interest.
Completing the top three is Lake Buena Vista, better known as Walt Disney World in Florida. A 129 per cent increase in searches to Disney hotels suggests the corporation is enjoying a boost in visitors from the UK.
The rest of the top ten comprises two Spanish destinations, two in France, one in Germany and one in Greece. Many of these are coastal locations, including the holiday resorts of Las Palmas, Saint-Tropez, Agios Nikolaos, Puerto de Alcudia and Marseille. Stuttgart is an interesting entry, generally considered a base for exploring Germany’s Black Forest and Wurttemberg wine region.
Saint-Tropez is unsurprisingly the most expensive destination in the top ten, with an average room rate of £250 per night. This is followed by Disney’s Lake Buena Vista, at £121 per night. The cheapest destination is Las Palmas in Gran Canaria, at £52, followed by Cuba’s Havana, at £62 per night.
Denise Bartlett, UK Public Relations: “It is of little surprise to see such a huge increase in travel interest to both Havana and Varadero, with the lifting of US travel restrictions to Cuba urging many travellers to visit before the country changes dramatically. The real surprise is such a steep increase in searches to Lapland, suggesting that both winter travel and travel to see the Northern Lights are enjoying an upward trend. Finally, the inclusion of a Disney resort city in the top could suggest two things: either more people are visiting Disney, or more people are using a price comparison site to do so – rather than booking packages directly with Disney."
