New Year Travel Trends: Travelers Look to New Destinations and Shorter Trips

The new year often sparks an increase in travel interest and planning globally, and that has not changed in 2022, despite concerns about variants like Omicron and the ever-changing vaccination requirements. Our search data from January 2022 for key markets like the US, UK, Germany and France indicates that interest in travel continues to grow, with destinations offering warmer weather, excitement or city travel leading the searches.

Key takeaways

• Travel interest is up year over year: German and the British travellers show the greatest overall increase in travel interest in 2022, with France and the US following just behind them. If the current trends for 2022 continue to follow seasonal patterns, we can expect continued upwards momentum in the industry.
• Disneyland is growing in popularity: From the US to Germany and the UK to France, travelers are choosing new destinations that bring excitement and adventure to their holiday. Anaheim, California is a trending destination gaining popularity, with significantly more clickouts in 2022 compared to 2021. The home of the Disneyland Resort went from position 100 in 2021 to position 11 among all US destinations. In France, Magny le Hongre grew in popularity in 2022, going from position 23 to position 5. The French commune is close to the famous Disneyland Paris. Both UK and German travellers have also started searching for accommodation close to Disneyland Paris this year.
• Shorter holidays and city trips are on the rise: As restrictions ease, travelers seem to look for shorter getaways and show a high interest in city trips, both locally and abroad. Though city trips aren’t back to pre-pandemic levels, things are looking up. The average length of stay decreased for all locales with the exception of the US. Considering the average length of stay, which is about 4 days, it looks like travellers are planning long weekend city getaways.

Trends per market

US

US travellers are eager for city trips again and escape and entertainment is their top priority.

Fast facts:

• Anaheim, home to the Disneyland Resort, went from the 100th to the 11th top destination from 2021 to 2022.
• Big cities are making a comeback with Las Vegas, New York, Orlando and San Diego slowly increasing in popularity again this year.
• Dubai continues to grow in popularity despite a peak in case numbers and is the second top destination abroad after Cancun.

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Germany

Though local travel remains strong, German travellers are ready to venture outside their country borders again.

Fast facts:

• Germany’s biggest cities continue drawing more local travellers for short getaways.
• Germans remain early planners, tending to book their travels almost 3 months in advance.
• Warmer destinations like Istanbul, Playa de Palma and Dubai made the top 10 list as Germans escape the winter cold.
• Paris has continued increasing in popularity going from position 16 to position 8 in 2022 and though Prague might not have made the top 20 list yet, Germans are increasingly interested in visiting the Czech capital. This shows a clear interest in nearby city getaways among German travellers.

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France

The French are preparing to venture further and more south this year.

Fast facts:

• Though city trips to eg. Paris and New York are increasing, Dubai is slowly decreasing in popularity.
• Warmer and southern destinations are much desired as Barcelona, Marrakech and Istanbul all make the top 10 list this January.
• Local travellers are venturing south for sunnier weekend getaways and north to Magny le Hongre for an escape to Disneyland Paris.

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UK

UK travellers’ interest in local travel is increasing compared to last year.

Fast facts:

• Interest in the top local destinations below has increased since 2021, with destinations like London, Manchester, Liverpool and Edinburgh rising above January 2019 levels.
• Dubai and New York, the only international destinations on the UK’s top 10 list, have both decreased in popularity, though Dubai is still the 2nd most popular destination.
• Newcastle upon Tyne might not have made the top 10 list yet, but saw a sudden increase in popularity: A variety of events are taking place here this year, including Hadrian’s Wall 1900 Festival, 2022 UK Pride, the Rugby League World Cup 2022 and more.

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Whether it’s escaping the winter cold, planning early for a spring getaway, or booking quick city breaks over the weekend, travel interest is clearly up in 2022 despite Omicron waves across a few of our key markets. With spring looming in the near future, we look forward to seeing which of the current trends will remain and which will fade away as travellers regain confidence in the new reality.

Have any questions on the data above? Feel free to reach out:

Ankia Wolf
Corporate Communication
ankia.wolf@trivago.com

Methodology: This report is based on comparison data from January 2019, 2021 and 2022. To gauge how travel behaviour has changed in 2022 so far, we looked into searches done on trivago during the whole month of January for trips taking place in 2022.