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The Asian-Pacific leads the global list of trendy summer travel destinations

Asia-Pacific houses eight of the 15 most popular trends for the summer travel destinations in the world, so Travel trends 2025The latest report by the Mastercard Economics Institute (Mei), which analyzes global consumer expenditure in the travel industry.

Cheonggyecheon stream in downtown Seoul

Between June and September 2025, Tokyo and Osaka took first and second place worldwide. The capital of second place in 2023 rose for the top position, while NHA Trang in Vietnam made his debut on the list with a remarkable increase in travel issue.

According to the report, the Chinese mainland had its position as the world's largest market for outgoing travel reports in 2024. Travelers from China showed a growing interest in value-oriented and visa accessible destinations such as Japan, Malaysia and Singapore as well as in emerging central Asian places, including Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan.

India also recorded its highest number of outgoing travelers in 2024. Indian tourists preferred a diverse mix of destinations, led by Abu Dhabi, Hanoi and Bali. The report cited improved direct flight options and an increasing middle class as key factors that contribute to the outgoing growth.

The report, which goes back to aggregated and anonymized transaction data and sources of third -party providers, finds that exchange courses and geopolitics play a role in travel decisions, passion and targeted motivations that continue to influence consumer behavior.

Highlights from the Asian-Pacific region:

Japan leads the pack – With Vietnam's NHA Trang, rises quickly: In 2024, the Japanese capital rose from number two to lead the global travel question to the main summer season, which was due to the ongoing stimulus. In the meantime, NHA Trang in Vietnam made an introduction to the list and, thanks to its beautiful beaches, its enviable coast and his nightlife, increased more and more, the report said.

China and India – still Asia's journey -titan: The Chinese mainland had its position as the world's largest starting drive market in 2024. Chinese travelers are increasingly prioritizing value and visa -friendly goals such as Japan, Malaysia and Singapore. The interest in central Asian goals such as Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan also increases.

India published the highest number of outgoing travelers in the country in 2024. Indian tourists explore a wide mix of goals – the three best three are Abu Dhabi, Hanoi and Bali – with growth, which is supported by expanded direct escape connections and a rapidly growing middle class that strives to travel. Together, the two markets continue to play an oversized role in the design of global travel flows.

Trends summer destinations June – September

  1. Tokyo 🇯🇵
  2. Osaka 🇯🇵
  3. Paris 🇫🇷
  4. Shanghai 🇨🇳
  5. Palma de Mallorca 🇪🇸
  6. Seoul 🇰🇷*
  7. Beijing 🇨🇳
  8. Madrid 🇪🇸
  9. Rio de Janeiro 🇧🇷
  10. Singapore 🇸🇬
  11. NHA Trang 🇻🇳
  12. Reykjavik 🇮🇸
  13. Fukuoka 🇯🇵
  14. Hurghada 🇪🇬
  15. Sharm El-Heikh 🇪🇬

Experience about travel routes:

According to the report in the entire Asian-Pacific area, traveling food, nature and wellness prioritize as important motivators for travel and searching for sensible moments about traditional sights. Goals such as Gianyar in Bali, Indonesia, known for his legendary Babi Guling-Spit-Pork pork, and Queenstown in New Zealand, in which the restaurants in 2024 to highlight tourists from 44 countries as globalized culinary hotspots.

According to Meis wellness trend, Thailand is one of the goals that are leading in relaxation experiences and self-sufficiency, where visitors can reconcile with nature in impressive eco-lodges or find it calmly in meditation retreats.

At the same time, the rising WTI score for New Zealand suggests growing effort to be part of this popular movement. Overall, the trend towards targeted travel reflects the wider desire of people for experiences that nourish both body and mind.

NHA Trang – picture of min and

Sportsfandom fuels travel:

The rise of sports tourism continues, with major events attract important international editions in Los Angeles in Los Angeles.

With Shohei Ohtanis World Series debut, the expenditure of Japanese visitors rose by 91%, six times as cross-border as sporting events show powerful travel catalysts for fans.

“The Asian-Pacific region continues to set the pace for global trips, with humming goals such as Tokyo, Shanghai, Seoul and Singapore capture the imagination of travelers around the world,” said David Mann, chief economist, Asia-Pacific, MasterCard.

“Even if the economic uncertainty remains, travel remains a rectid view of people who are looking for meaningful, value-oriented experiences. From exchange courses to regional accessibility, travelers make intelligent, deliberate decisions about where they are going and why, with a clear shift to personal, targeted trips.”

Shanghai – picture of Dominic Kurniawan Suryaputra

Travelers from the Asian-Pacific area tend tend to react more sensitive to exchange rate shifts.

A weaker yen during a large part of 2024 played an important role in increasing the inbound tourism of Japan and made the country a convincing goal for visitors looking for value. Remarkably, a devaluation of the JPY against the RMB 1% with an increase in tourists from the Chinese mainland is connected by 1.5%.

However, visitors from New Zealand and the USA only rose by 0.2% in response to the same degree of depreciation compared to their currencies. In 2024, the number of Singapore visitors in Japan hit record highs – thanks to an increase of 40% in the Singapore Dollar (SGD) compared to the Japanese Yen (JPY), themselves became more expensive as a flight price and hotels.

The analysis of Mei shows that tourists from India, Singapore, South Korea and Taiwan are particularly sensitive to exchange rate fluctuations after taking other factors into account. In particular, 1% devaluation of the US dollar (USD) against their local currencies corresponds to an increase in the number of tourists in the USA by approximately 0.6–0.8%.

These results in accordance with our earlier analysis of tourism to Japan suggest that these travelers react more to exchange rate movements when choosing outbound destinations.

The changing sand of business trips:

Nowadays, companies restrict the global journey in favor of regional trips. And while people overall do fewer business trips, the average duration takes longer, which indicates that the efforts to extend the travel budget are available. For example, the travelers of the US travelers rose from 8.8 days to 10.2 days in the Asian-Pacific space.

Travel fraud requires a safer, more intelligent travel ecosystem.

According to Mei, the fraud in popular tourist destinations increases up to 28%during peak times. The general fraud includes bloated fees in restaurants and taxis, fake travel companies and fraudulent real estate entries. To combat this, MasterCard uses advanced fraud prevention technologies, including digital wallets and AI-controlled systems to protect travelers.

This ensures that travelers can concentrate on their travels without worrying about security threats, the report said.

“This report is intended to offer a clearer view of how the behavior of consumers is developing – and what this means for the growth of tourism,” added Mann.

“By converting data into implementable knowledge, the MasterCard Economics Institute is intended to support the travel ecosystem in order to make more intelligent decisions that drive stronger tourism strategies, better travel experiences and more resistant economic results.”


See the report “Travel Trends 2025: Purpose -oriented travel” here and other knowledge from Mei here.

Selected picture of Nguyen Hung.

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