Global travel leader Skyscanner, released its latest Horizons report, highlighting insights into booking windows, destination choices, and trending destinations across the EMEA, AMER and APAC regions.

The analysis is based on Skyscanner’s proprietary forward-looking Travel Insight data, comparing traveller behaviour and search trends year-on-year.

Read the full report HERE.

Booking windows reflect confidence to plan ahead

Across the board, travellers are planning further ahead compared to the previous year, marking a return to traditional seasonality in 2024.

EMEA: Travellers in EMEA are exhibiting strong confidence, with increases in trips booked further in advance (greater share of 60-89 day and 90+ day booking windows).

AMER: Increases in the share of longest booking window (90+ days), now making up a third up of demand.

APAC: A greater distribution of booking windows compared to other regions but an overall increase in bookings over 30 days (including a 2% jump in the 90+ day segment).

Destination choices highlight regional preferences

EMEA: A significant 53% of EMEA travellers are opting to explore Europe, marking a 4% increase from the previous year. Southeast Asia also sees a rise in popularity, suggesting a trend towards both proximity and affordability.

AMER: With a diverse destination mix, AMER travellers are showing a growing interest in South America and North Asia, alongside traditional favourites in Europe, indicating a shift towards new experiences and value in 2024.

APAC: APAC travellers are turning their focus towards intra-regional destinations, with a notable decrease in trips to Europe compared to last year. This reflects a preference for shorter, more budget-friendly vacations.

Shorter trip lengths to top destinations

Across all regions, average trip lengths are slightly down or flat year-on-year for the majority of popular destinations.

EMEA: Spanish and Greek destinations dominate the most popular destinations searched on Skyscanner, with Bangkok, New York City and Sydney also popular for long-haul travel.

AMER: Global destinations are most searched for, with "Everywhere" topping the list, followed by Tokyo and European capitals. San Carlos de Bariloche in Argentina and Orlando, Florida are also popular choices within the region.

APAC: Well-known European and US destinations are most popular, with Athens experiencing the biggest increase in trip length. "Everywhere" also ranks highly, and Tokyo is the only destination with a single-digit trip length.

Trending destinations

Destinations with the biggest year-on-year increases in search volumes reflect a mix of wanting to explore new places, as well as those with new route connections.

EMEA: Victoria, Canada; Marmagao, India; Panama City; Bol, Croatia; Pristina, Kosovo; and Lampedusa, Italy are all experiencing significant search volume growth with EMEA travellers

AMER: For AMERs travellers, San Carlos de Bariloche, Tokyo, Madrid and Orlando are trending alongside Medellin, Colombia; Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic; Ushuaia, Argentina; Porto Seguro, Brazil; Santiago, Chile; and Tunis, Tunisia.

APAC: New Delhi, India and Shanghai, China are experiencing the biggest growth amongst APAC travellers, while Jeddah, Saudi Arabia; Dubrovnik, Croatia; and Victoria, Canada are also trending. Pangkalan Bun, Indonesia is the only trending destination with an increase in average trip length.

At the start of 2024, Skyscanner saw record travel demand, outperforming the global flights market and was the fastest growing metasearch in 2023.*

Skyscanner continues to be a strategic partner for some of the biggest brands, airlines and DMOs in the world; working with companies from across the travel ecosystem including DMOs like Visit California to promote destinations, powering the next generation of AI travel tools such as Bing Chat and Layla, as well as helping airlines promote their unique offers via NDC and launch new routes based on data intelligence.

*Between the end of 2023 and the start of 2024, Skyscanner outperformed the global flights market, recording +16% growth in visitors compared to the wider market’s +3%. SimilarWeb data based on global flight sessions of tracked brands between 29th Dec -4th Jan. Analysis includes 272 tracked brands and 34 markets. Full list of markets and brands tracked available on request.