Booking.com has released eight travel trend predictions for 2018, among which are an increase in pop culture-inspired travel and friends-based getaways.

According to booking.com, television shows, films, sport and social media in particular look set to have an increasingly significant sway over booking decisions.

The television programme locations travellers most want to visit in 2018 are Croatia, Spain and Iceland inspired by Game of Thrones (29 per cent), London as seen in Sherlock and the Crown (21 per cent and 13 per cent), New York and Manhattan from Billions (13 per cent) and Los Angeles viewed in Entourage (10 per cent).

On-screen locations from television, film or music videos will win over 36 per cent of travellers in the coming year. Twenty-two per cent of travellers say they will be tempted to travel for a major sporting event, with 43 per cent of those considering a summer of football in Russia. Reading blogs or watching YouTuber recommendations spark ideas for 39 per cent of travellers.

Meanwhile, in terms of choice of travel companions, the segment showing the biggest increase when compared to 2017 was travelling with a group of friends, increasing from 21 to 25 per cent.

Friend-based getaways also have financial advantages, Booking.com observed, as 42 per cent said that joint holidays with friends will allow them to stay in accommodation they wouldn’t be able to afford on their own.

Booking.com further pointed out that 2018 will see travellers looking to be even more economically intuitive. Nearly half (47 per cent) will take currency exchange rates into consideration when planning their travels for the year, and almost the same amount (48 per cent) will think about the economic climate of a destination before making the decision to travel.

Boding well for the retail industry, 30 per cent of travellers also plan to make more purchases from airport duty free shops in 2018 and 26 per cent will even go on holiday specifically to buy goods such as fashion items because they are cheaper than in their home country.

For more of Booking.com’s 2018 predictions, please click here.

Beaches and islands prove to be Thailand’s most powerful attractions for international travellers, with Krabi entering TripAdvisor’s top five Thai destinations in terms of search traffic growth for the first time this year, after registering the highest increase at 41%.

Krabi is followed by Kathu and Nai Yang in Phuket, at 37% and 31% respectively. Tied in fourth place with a 10% increase in searches is Chiang Mai in the north and border city Hat Yai in the south.

As for visitor origin markets, China continues to contribute the highest percentage increase in search traffic on TripAdvisor, with a year-on-year increase of 30%, outpacing the overall international average of 4%. India and Indonesia followed in second and third place, with year-on-year search increases of 16% and 12% respectively.

Top five Thai destinations with the biggest increase in international traveller interest:

Note: Exact percentages rounded to zero decimal points; year-on-year growth comparing July 2016 – June 2017 versus July 2015 – June 2016

The largest sources of search traffic for Thailand are China, the US, the UK, Australia and Russia. According to the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT), China and Russia were also two of the largest contributors to Thailand’s inbound tourism and inbound expenditure in 1H2017.

Top five inbound countries by overall search traffic:

Note: based on total number of searches (unique sessions) for Thailand on TripAdvisor (excluding Thailand), July 2016 – June 2017

Out of the top five inbound markets, Chinese travellers have the shortest planning lead time of approximately 51 days and stay for nearly four nights. Russian travellers take around 60 days to plan a trip but stay the longest with approximately 11 nights per stay.

Travellers from the US, the UK and Australia stay for an average of six nights and take the longest to plan, with lead times of 108, 102 and 82 days respectively.

On average, international travellers visiting Thailand start planning their trip 65 days in advance, and stay for almost five nights.

Among Chinese travellers searching Thailand, there was continued interest from second-tier cities of Hangzhou, Dalian and Qingdao. The surge in interest comes amid increasing disposable income in these cities and improved flight connectivity to South-east Asia.

Top five Chinese cities with biggest increase in traveller interest to Thailand:

Note: exact percentages rounded to zero decimal points; year-on-year growth comparing July 2016 – June 2017 versus July 2015 – June 2016 with a minimum session of 50,000

Singapore and Tokyo placed among weekenGO’s top 10 cities for baby boomers to visit for the weekend, but Asian destinations were absent from the ranking of best cities for millennial travel.

Singapore ranked sixth best city for baby boomers to spend a weekend in. With an overall ranking of 27^th, the city placed well (11^th) for families too, but is much less favoured for millennial travel (31^st).

The Lion City fared best in mobility (ranked second, scoring 96.13), security (ranked 14^th, scoring 96.06) and dining (ranked 17^th, scoring 95.15).

It did not do so well, however, on measures of walkability (84^th, 81.72), concerts (74^th, 77.88) and LGBT-friendliness (71^st, 80.30).

With top marks (100) for dining is Tokyo, placing it close behind Singapore in eighth spot for baby boomer travel. Japan’s capital also did well on measures of mobility (89.3), cultural events (94.24) and security (98.49).

Meanwhile, weekenGO’s 10 best cities for millennial travel are (in order) Berlin, London, Amsterdam, Vienna, Paris, Toronto, Zurich, Dublin, Munich and Edinburgh.

To determine best cities for millennials, factors such as LGBT-friendliness, women safety, concerts, clubs, bars, accommodation, green spaces, walkability and mobility were considered.

While Asian cities did not make the top 10 for millennial travel, Shanghai snatched the winning score for the best club options.

Since US president Donald Trump first initiated a travel ban, the country has suffered a slowdown in international arrivals while the rest of the world pushes ahead, according to recent ForwardKeys analysis.

The decline also coincides with the strengthening of the US dollar, making the destination more expensive, ForwardKeys acknowledged.

Since January 27, there has been an overall dip of 1.4 per cent compared to the same period last year, while international arrivals in the rest of the world shows an increase of 4.6 per cent.

ForwardKeys observed that the decrease is from around the world – Europe, Asia-Pacific and the Middle East. Only travel from elsewhere in the Americas, and Africa (which has a small 2.1 per cent market share of travel to the US) have shown growth.

Europe, with a 39.4 per cent market share, slumped by 2.3 per cent over the year to the end of September, while Asia-Pacific, with a 23 per cent market share, was down 3.8 per cent.

ForwardKeys co-founder and CEO, Olivier Jager said: “Our latest findings confirm what our data has been predicting since the first travel ban. There has been a Trump Slump and the strong dollar has compounded it.”

“This must be worrying for the US economy – travel is a huge earner for the US and relative to the rest of the world, its tourism exports are losing ground.”

New completed hotel residence units in South-east Asia will represent a massive 83 per cent rise over existing supply between 2018 and 2020, with Danang, Phuket, Kuala Lumpur, Bali and Bintan the top pipeline project locations, according to C9 Hotelworks.

“Currently across South-east Asia, there is an estimated 94 mainstream hotel residence projects with more than 21,000 units online. This year 15 hotel branded projects will be completed and 2,496 units will enter supply. The region is expecting a sharp rise in supply in 2018 with 43 projects currently under development,” said Bill Barnett, managing director of C9 Hotelworks.

The report further shows that projects are largely established in resort areas, accounting for 75 per cent of the current supply overall. For those under development, over 78 per cent of the properties are located in resort destinations, with over 95 per cent set in Indonesia, Vietnam and Thailand.

With an onslaught of supply entering the market, developers are looking to increase sales by offering guaranteed yields, especially in emerging markets such as Vietnam, Indonesia and Cambodia, C9 Hotelworks observed.

And as domestic demand flattens and overseas buyers increase, Barnett said “widening reforms for foreign property ownership are expected to further push transaction volume given the region’s favourable price competitiveness”.

Branded hotel chains continue to dominate the market, with 148 projects representing 79 per cent of existing and new supply. C9 Hotelworks said its latest research reflects that the marketwide premiums of recognised hospitality groups range between 25-35 per cent versus independent properties. Chains that are most active include Marriott, Banyan Tree, Hyatt, Melia and Minor.

Compared to other Asia-Pacific nationalities surveyed in the Agoda Travel & Tech Study 2017, Singaporean travellers were found to have the strongest leanings towards shopping while Thais were significantly more interested in health and wellness activities.

Singaporeans displayed the strongest preference for shopping (66 per cent), four- to five-star hotels (46 per cent) and dining (78 per cent).

To Agoda, this explains why Bangkok (second), Taipei (sixth), Hong Kong (seventh) and Tokyo (eighth) – all of which offer the sought-after combination of shopping, luxurious hotel and dining – made the top 10 most popular destinations for Singaporeans.

But it’s not all glamour for Singapore travellers, Agoda continued, as 72 per cent of travellers like nature and scenery. Top destinations also include scenic locales like Batam Island (fifth), Malacca (ninth) and Bali (10^th).

Meanwhile, Thai travellers were two times more interested in health and wellness activities compared to the average traveller across 15 countries. Sixty-six per cent of Thai travellers indicated the preference, compared to only 15 per cent for Malaysians and 23 per cent for Filipinos.

The study further revealed food (77 per cent) was the top travel experience for Malaysians, which Agoda surmised has driven the surge in domestic travel by an additional 10 million visits in 2016.

“This was evident in the ranking of the top three destinations for Malaysia’s travellers, which included Kuala Lumpur, Penang and Malacca – all known for their famous local cuisines… as well as their access to international dining options,” Agoda stated.

Apart from food, 73 per cent of travellers from Malaysia also looked for scenic getaways, the second most important factor in making their holiday decisions.

Among the top 10 destinations for Malaysia’s independent travellers, the only one that’s overseas is Bangkok, which ranked sixth.