NEW YORK - Leading luxury travel network Virtuoso, recognized throughout the industry as an authoritative trend predictor, has tapped into the group's data warehouse of more than $35 billion in transactions to determine the top summer destinations for 2015. It turns out the well-heeled – those who use summer as a verb, rather than a noun – are still vacationing in Europe; however, not in droves as anticipated. Virtuoso also shows that many of its travelers are venturing to some more unique locales as it compares destinations with the most year-over-year demand.
The Virtuoso Top10: The most popular destinations for summer vacations based on future bookings
The Virtuoso Top10: The most popular destinations for summer vacations based on future bookings
- United Kingdom
- Italy
- France
- Canada
- Spain
- Germany
- Netherlands
- South Africa
- Ireland
- Greece
The Virtuoso Hot10: The countries that have seen the largest percentage of growth in year-over-year bookings
- Australia (+137%)
- China (+101%)
- Ecuador (+84%)
- Iceland (+49%)
- Greece (+41%)
- Japan (+35%)
- Turkey (+29%)
- United Arab Emirates (+22%)
- Canada (+20%)
- Croatia (+18%)
The Hot 10 analysis: Australia leads the chart with triple-digit growth, indicating that winter travel to Down Under is gaining in popularity. China trailed closely behind, largely thanks to Hong Kong which accounts for almost half of its air traffic. This year, Ecuador became the fastest growing destination – as well as the most popular – in South America. It is no surprise that summer is the time to visit Iceland, though the 49 percent jump shows that plenty of travelers are eager to explore it. And travel to Greece is back on the rise, with 58 percent of bookings occurring June through August as travelers head to their favorite isles: Santorini, Mykonos, Crete and Rhodes.