- Opodo listed destinations with biggest bookings increase for World Tourism Day
- Holidays to Abu Dhabi has sky-rocketed in 2017 ahead of the Louvre’s opening
- Other destinations hit by an uptick in visitors include Fort Lauderdale in Florida
Some timeless travel destinations never fall out of favour.
But, on the flip side, there are some less likely locations which seem to be on the rise in popularity – and are the new go-to places.
To prove it, Opodo have revealed the holiday hot-spots experiencing the biggest growth in 2017, providing some surprising results.
Hotspot: Tourism to Abu Dhabi has sky-rocketed ahead of the Louvre’s much-anticipated opening, new research suggests
Curated to mark World Tourism Day, the list – which was released on Thursday – sees Abu Dhabi top its competitors with a major spike in bookings.
The United Arab Emirates capital witnessed a 326 per cent increase this year alone – in part because of the Louvre’s much-anticipated opening, later this year.
Housing 600 works of art, including 300 loaned by 13 French museums for the inaugural year, the Louvre Abu Dhabi is described as the ‘first universal museum’ in the Arab world.
French Culture Minister Francoise Nyssen revealed earlier this month that the landmark will open to the public on November 11.
On the rise: Fort Lauderdale is an increasingly-popular spot, with bookings up 184 per cent
Trending: Ajaccio port cityscape with moored yachts and pleasure boats has helped to boost tourism in 2017
Besides Middle Eastern artifacts and paintings, it will include works by artists such as Paul Gauguin, Pablo Picasso, and Cy Twombly.
Other destinations hit by an uptick in visitors include Fort Lauderdale in Florida, (up by 184 per cent), Ajaccio in Corsica (up by 177 per cent) and Casablanca in Morocco (up by 147 per cent).
Completing the list of top ten destinations which have seen the biggest increase in bookings so far this year are: Mexico City in Mexico (up by 131 per cent), Oakland in California (up by 102 per cent) and Beirut in Lebanon (up by 96 per cent).
Oviedo in Spain is up by 79 per cent, Dubai has witnessed a 60 per cent increase and Detroit in Michigan has also experienced a 59 per cent rise in bookings.
Opodo’s findings were based on bookings made from January to August 2017 compared to the same time period the year before.