Leading travel analytics firm ForwardKeys has identified the top city destinations for the summer (July 1-August 31) based on flight search data.
Bangkok is the most searched city this summer, far ahead of Paris, which is in second place. Since more than 1.1 billion searches were examined for the research, ForwardKeys created the ranking on the premise that Bangkok is 100 to make the list more palatable.
The top twenty cities with the highest index values are Paris (73), London (72), Denpasar (69), Barcelona (68), New York (61), Lisbon (54), Istanbul (52), Madrid (52), Athens (51) and Palma (51), in that order. Mallorca is ranked 48, followed by Singapore (46), Tokyo (45), Kuala Lumpur (45), Amsterdam (44), Copenhagen (42), Los Angeles (42), Rome (39), Manila (34) and Frankfurt (34) in the world.
Antalya, Berlin, Cancun, Cairo, Delhi, Dubai, Dublin, Ho Chi Minh City, Malaga, Marrakech, Milan, Punta Cana, San Francisco, Seoul, Tel Aviv-Yafo, Warsaw, Valetta, and Vienna are also included in positions 21–100.
Search results are also compared with those of the previous year to show changes in relative popularity. Bangkok has risen three places, knocking Paris off the top spot. London remains in third place. Denpasar, the capital of Bali, has moved up six places to fourth, displacing Barcelona to fifth, Lisbon to seventh, Istanbul to eighth, Madrid to ninth and Palma Mallorca to eleventh.
Athens moved up one spot from 11th to enter the top ten, while New York moved up two spots from 8th in 2022 to 6th this year. Tokyo, up 53 spots to 13th, Kuala Lumpur, up 24 spots to 14th, Singapore, up 14 spots to 12th, and Manilla, up 8 spots to 19th were notable climbers that sprinted into the top twenty. Their rise is mostly attributable to the COVID-19 travel restrictions’ late easing, which sparked a spike in interest.
Asian and Australian cities, where some of the most stringent pandemic travel restrictions were still in place last summer, dominate the top ten list of highest climbers. Taipei made the biggest gains, rising 161 places to 56th. It is followed by Hong Kong, up 129 places to 39th; Seoul, up 56 places to 35th; Tokyo, up 53 places to 13th; Hanoi, up 41 places to 76th; Auckland, up 41 places to 103rd, Melbourne, which rose 31 places to rank 75; Ho Chi Minh City, which rose 30 places to rank 52; Kuala Lumpur, which rose 24 places to rank 14; and Phuket, which rose 24 places to rank 57.