The industry leader in travel, Skyscanner, has published its most recent Horizons research on regional travel trends for 2024. The analysis includes information on popular locations, booking windows, and travel preferences in the EMEA, AMER, and APAC regions. Based on Skyscanner’s exclusive forward-looking Travel Insight data, the report compares search trends and traveler behavior from year to year.
“Our latest Horizon insights reveal a travel landscape that is both familiar and evolving. While traditional seasonality is returning and popular destinations remain in demand, travellers are also seeking value and exploring options closer-to-home. Across Skyscanner’s platforms we have seen incredible demand at the start of the year, and we expect this to continue as we head into the summer, especially in regions such as Europe, North America and North Asia.”
Zeynep Mutlu Bigalı, Head of Destination Partnerships
Booking windows show a willingness to organize ahead of time.
Travelers are often making more advance plans than they did the year before, indicating that 2024 will see a return to conventional seasonality.
EMEA: Travelers there are showing a lot of confidence, as evidenced by the rise in trips that are scheduled further in advance (a higher percentage of booking windows spanning 60–89 days and 90+ days).
AMER: A rise in the percentage of longest booking windows (90 days or more), which currently account for one-third of demand.
APAC: More booking windows distributed than in other regions, but overall more bookings over 30 days (with a 2% increase in the 90+ day group).
Choices of destinations emphasize local preferences
EMEA: A noteworthy 53% of travelers in the region choose to visit Europe, a 4% rise from the year prior. An increasing number of people are also drawn to Southeast Asia, indicating a trend toward cost and accessibility.
AMER: With a varied mix of destinations, travelers from this region are exhibiting an increasing interest in destinations in South America and North Asia in addition to long-standing favorites in Europe. This suggests a change in 2024 toward novel experiences and value.
APAC: With a noticeable decline in trips to Europe from the previous year, travelers from APAC are shifting their attention to intraregional locations. This indicates a desire for less expensive, shorter holidays.
Shorter travel times to popular locations
For most popular destinations, average trip lengths are stable or somewhat shorter year over year across all areas.
EMEA: The most searched-for destinations on Skyscanner are mostly Spanish and Greek, with Bangkok, New York City, and Sydney all being popular for lengthy trips.
AMER: The most searched-for global destinations are “Everywhere,” Tokyo, and European capitals coming in second and third. Popular destinations in the area are Orlando, Florida, and San Carlos de Bariloche, Argentina.
APAC: Popular US and European destinations are most sought after, with Athens seeing the largest increase in length of trip. Tokyo is the only location with a trip duration of just one digit, while “Everywhere” also scores highly.
Travel trends for 2024
Destinations with the biggest year-on-year increases in search volumes reflect a mix of wanting to explore new places, as well as those with new route connections.
- EMEA: Victoria, Canada; Marmagao, India; Panama City; Bol, Croatia; Pristina, Kosovo; and Lampedusa, Italy are all experiencing significant search volume growth with EMEA travellers
- AMER: For AMERs travellers, San Carlos de Bariloche, Tokyo, Madrid and Orlando are trending alongside Medellin, Colombia; Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic; Ushuaia, Argentina; Porto Seguro, Brazil; Santiago, Chile; and Tunis, Tunisia.
- APAC: New Delhi, India and Shanghai, China are experiencing the biggest growth amongst APAC travellers, while Jeddah, Saudi Arabia; Dubrovnik, Croatia; and Victoria, Canada are also trending. Pangkalan Bun, Indonesia is the only trending destination with an increase in average trip length.
At the start of 2024, Skyscanner saw record travel demand, outperforming the global flights market and was the fastest growing metasearch in 2023.
Skyscanner continues to be a strategic partner for some of the biggest brands, airlines and DMOs in the world; working with companies from across the travel ecosystem including DMOs like Visit California to promote destinations, powering the next generation of AI travel tools such as Bing Chat and Layla, as well as helping airlines promote their unique offers via NDC and launch new routes based on data intelligence.
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