(Thursday 16 January) Here are the best travel trends we’ve noticed this week:
The best-value tourist attractions for 2020
A recent study by Club Med analysed 66 of the world’s top tourist attractions, comparing their entry fees to social media sentiment (the attitude and feelings people have about a particular topic on social networks), to determine the best-value sights for 2020. The Peterhof Grand Palace in Saint Petersburg received the gold medal, with an unbeatable social media sentiment of 100% and an entry price of just £7.51. Great Salt Lake, Utah, and the Giza Pyramids, Egypt, also feature in the top three attractions.
The new ‘travel norms’ expected by travellers
A single app for every travel need, passport-free transfers and electronic check-ins: these are the habits that travellers expect to become norms in the next decade, according to a study by digital travel platform Agoda. The results also reveal that New York is the top bucket-list destination for British travellers, followed by Sydney and Kyoto — although 36% of Brits would like to explore more of their own country.
The most Instagrammed sights of the decade
Marking 10 years since Instagram was launched, InterContinental uncovered the most Instagrammed sights of 2019 as part of their InterContinental Icons campaign. The Eiffel Tower ranked first, appearing in 53% of all photos tagged with the Paris hashtag as well as in nearly 10% of all photos analysed. In the UK, meanwhile, Buckingham Palace appeared in 21% of all photos tagged with the London hashtag.