As the nights draw closer and the days get colder, many of us are starting to plan our next holiday and for those seeking destination inspiration, ten countries have been tipped to top our bucket lists.
Bolivia
The list ranges from countries on the rebound to places which are becoming more accessible including Sri Lanka, Russia, Columbia, Kyrgyzstan, Portugal, Morocco, Hawaii, Bolivia, Egypt and Oman.
With such an array of unusual destinations, it’s apparent our travel tastes and holiday habits have come a long way – both attitudinally and in terms of the actual distance travelled by the average trip taker - since the first package holidays in the fifties and sixties; when early mass holiday packages saw Brits arrive in their thousands to visit destinations such as Palma and the Costa Brava.
In fact, last year an enormous 45 million holidays abroad were enjoyed by UK residents - almost double that of ten years ago - with adventure companies like G Adventures seeing India, Cambodia, Vietnam and Peru as some of the most popular 2017 destinations, with adventure travel appealing to a broad range of age groups.
And despite our ‘Brits abroad’ reputation, research reflecting on this year’s holiday habits shows an overwhelming majority (96%) say that they actively try to enhance their exploration of new places by immersing themselves in local cultures and traditions such as eating at locally-owned restaurants (77%), shopping for locally produced souvenirs (47%) and observe local customs and traditions (46%).
In fact, 95% even go as far as to say they feel embarrassed when fellow travelers stick to stereotype and bring ‘home’ away with them with holiday bugbears including fellow tourists drinking too much during the day (55%), being too loud (41%) and using inappropriate language (41%).
The research by G Adventures released today also shows that whilst climate and cost remain important considerations for our travel choices, a third consider broadening of the mind and authenticity (27%) as key elements of their wanderlust with economic impact on the local economy and environmental factors also play a part.
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