I read a recent CN Travel article that listed the top 20 countries in the world for people visiting.
See https://www.cntraveler.com/story/top-countries-in-the-world
Top Countries in the World: Readers’ Choice Awards 2023 - Condé Nast Traveler readers rank their favorite countries around the world, with Europe dominating this year’s list.
The article noted: "Europe dominated this year’s list of Reader's Choice Awards winners for the world's best countries to travel to, matching
what we were hearing anecdotally (and seeing on Instagram) about where travelers have been choosing to go. Here are the best countries in the world, according to" their readers.
Here's the list they'd published:
CN TRAVEL
COUNTRIES
- Japan 92.43
- Italy 91.43
- Greece 91.16
- Ireland 90.75
- New Zealand 90.43
- Spain 90.39
- Portugal 90.34
- Israel 90.04
- Norway 90.01
- Switzerland 89.98
- Turkey 89.79
- Australia
89.38
- Iceland 89.10
- Croatia 89.09
- Germany 89.03
- United Kingdom 88.96
- South Africa 88.79
- Austria 88.74
- Sri Lanka 88.36
- France 88.35
I've certainly been booking a lot of these countries for clients like you.
Japan is very popular, as is Italy and Greece - always. Japan is a little wild trying to get space as their
tourism sector didn't rebound as quickly after CoVid, so with increasing demand from travelers colliding with labour shortages in the travel industry there, it's been difficult to find space.
Italy, Greece, and France are always popular to visit. (Did you see the
lines at various iconic tourist spots in Italy this summer?) The regular spots of Rome, Venice, and Florence continue to attract clients, but I'm also booking e-bike tours to Tuscany, and walking and wine tours in Cinque Terre.
And, of course, despite fires in
Greece this summer (after a heat wave), and all the demand for France pre-Olympics next year and pre-80th anniversary of D Day, everyone wants to visit Mykonos and Santorini, and Paris is always a good idea.
I would re-order CN's list to certainly put New Zealand
and Australia higher too. Bucket list trips have exploded. (Did you see last week's newsletter about active in Australia?)
And I'd also re-order the CN list for other spots. My clients certainly have river cruise countries like Portugal, France, Germany, and
Austria higher on the list than the CN Travel one above. (Have you tried to book a river cruise to Portugal and Spain with me? Wow - there's hardly any space for 2024 already! And balcony cabins - forget it!)
River cruise companies keep innovating with
how they present and package the rivers of Europe - with new iterations of the Danube (Upper and Lower portions), Rhine, Moselle, Douro, Seine, Rhone, and other rivers. And that's not even considering river cruises to Africa, Vietnam, Egypt, and Colombia.
African
safaris are popular too. South Africa is certainly popular, but I'm also seeing a lot of demand for Kenya and Tanzania, as well as Botswana, Uganda, and Rwanda. Everyone wants to reconnect with nature, see the wildlife, maybe get close to a giraffe, elephant, or a gorilla in their natural habitat.
It's also been terrific to see demand continuing for Iceland, Switzerland, and Norway - I get new queries every day it seems. And I work with ocean cruising companies and destination management company partners to customize private trips for my clients to these locations. Walking and hiking holidays remain popular.
So, let me re-order and add a country or two to the CN Country list to give you my top 20 for clients. (I'm grouping 2 countries in two cases, as they are often combined in queries.)
Sheila's/ Lush Life TRAVEL
COUNTRIES
- France
- Italy
- Portugal
- Australia
- Greece
- Egypt
- South Africa
- Japan
- Austria
- New
Zealand
- Germany
- Switzerland
- Spain
- Norway
- Croatia
- Iceland
- Kenya & Tanzania
- Antarctica
- Chile & Argentina
- United Kingdom
I'll feature trips from some of these countries below.
But let me know - what are your top 20?
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