Extra vacationers are heading to the mountains: Huge Sky, Montana was named the highest trending journey vacation spot for 2026, based on a new report from Expedia, Resorts.com and Vrbo.
The report ranks 10 international locations on the rise based mostly on elevated flight and lodging searches on Expedia from 24,000 international vacationers during the last yr.
Huge Sky, the Rocky Mountains city an hour’s drive from Yellowstone, might looks as if it “got here out of nowhere,” however it’s “lengthy been recognized for world-class outside recreation, snowboarding and snowboarding within the winter and mountaineering, mountain biking and rafting in the summertime,” says Melanie Fish, journey knowledgeable for Expedia, Resorts.com, and Vrbo. Additionally including to its attraction are an evolving eating scene, progress in family-friendly choices, neighborhood occasions and cultural actions, she tells CNBC Make It.
Listed here are the highest 10 hotspots for vacationers within the coming yr and the way a lot search curiosity has risen from 2024:
- Huge Sky, Montana, USA: 92% enhance
- Okinawa, Japan: 71% enhance
- Sardinia, Italy: 63% enhance
- Phu Quoc, Vietnam: 53% enhance
- Savoie, France: 51% enhance
- Fort Walton Seashore, Florida, USA: 45% enhance
- Ucluelet, Canada: 44% enhance
- Cotswolds, U.Okay.: 39% enhance
- San Miguel de Allende, Mexico: 30% enhance
- Hobart, Australia: 25% enhance
Okinawa, a sequence of islands with a subtropical local weather in southern Japan, is the No. 2 trending vacation spot for 2026, per Expedia searches.
Journey to Japan surged lately because of a weak yen and lifted Covid restrictions, however some cities like Kyoto have launched so-called vacationer taxes to curb overcrowding. In the meantime, Expedia acknowledged Okinawa for assembly its “Good Journey Well being Test” framework, aligned with World Journey and Tourism Council ideas, for the area’s efforts to supply cultural and pure experiences with out the overcrowding seen in lots of main international cities.
“Expedia would not really feel prefer it ought to or may very well be the arbiter of the place vacationers ought to go to or ought to need to go to, however we do play a job in informing vacationers of what is taking place within the locations that they are planning to journey to,” Fish says about recognizing locations that assist sustainable journey practices.
Kabira Bay, Ishigaki, Okinawa, Japan. The bay varieties a part of the Iriomote-Ishigaki Nationwide Park.
Sean Pavone | Istock | Getty Photos
“What we see in Okinawa is that they’re taking proactive environmental measures like coral reef restoration, they’re shifting in direction of a decarbonized financial system through the use of renewable vitality sources,” Fish says. “They’re celebrating native heritage and ensuring guests have academic alternatives.”
Rounding out the highest three is Sardinia, one other rising vacation spot past hotspots like Rome, Florence or Venice. The island is the Mediterranean’s second-largest after Sicily and is usually known as “the Maldives of Europe” due to its seashores.
Elements of the area are thought of a “Blue Zone,” an space of the world the place folks are inclined to dwell exceptionally lengthy lives, because of wholesome way of life habits, entry to recent meals, and focuses on sturdy social ties and spirituality.
“Sardinia goes to take a little bit bit extra effort to get to than the locations that we’re so acquainted with, like Rome and Florence,” Fish says, however vacationers are discovering it worthwhile to benefit from the island’s seashores, meals and numerous landscapes.
“There are lovely coastlines, however then there is a mountainous inside, after which these charming cities,” she says. “That is actually the trifecta of what vacationers are on the lookout for.”
Picture taken in Bosa, Oristano, Sardinia, Italy.
Ellen Van Bodegom | Second | Getty Photos