Picking 2022’s hot destinations

Newness is the key to a hot destination: there must be something fresh, something that has palpably boosted the travel offering. 

If it’s a new hotel in a destination, then it needs to be distinct from ones that are already there. Or perhaps there’s a notable glut of new hotels. Timing-wise, these will need to be opening in 2022 (or at least due to be) or have materialised in the second half of 2021.

Other possibilities include a new museum or gallery, if it’s a really high-grade place. A new national park could also work. So too a hiking path if it’s unique in some way – Mike MacEacheran’s Telegraph piece from this weekend about a Swiss trail is an excellent example of how to do this – or fresh infrastructure (a bridge, tunnel or highway) which make getting to somewhere significantly easier.

In the case of new flights to a destination, this needs to be an entirely original route (so it’s no good if easyJet has introduced a London service that British Airways has long been running), have considerably increased capacity or an extended season (maybe winter flights are being offered for the first time).

Quirkier ideas include upcoming movies which were filmed in a destination or your allotted place becoming a pioneer in sustainable travel. Things to ignore include any links to other hot lists (e.g. “Country A was named in Lonely Planet’s Best in Travel list”), chiefly because the media hate acknowledging other media, and any sort of ‘Top Destination’ win at the World Travel Awards or similar. None of those awards carry any real weight with most UK travel desks.

Finally, try to resist having “Country B is open again after Covid” as your hot-destination angle. As this could apply to a hundred countries, it doesn’t stand out sufficiently to qualify anywhere as particularly buzz-worthy in 2022 terms.