Prague, Czech Republic – As 2024 comes to a close, leading travel technology company Kiwi.com takes a look back at the year’s travel trends. With over 38 billion searches, almost every nationality of traveler booked trips with Kiwi.com to more than 2,300 cities around the world. An additional 4.3 million users downloaded the Kiwi.com app this year to accompany them on their journeys.

Asian destinations on the rise in 2024
The top five most frequently booked countries were Spain, Italy, the United States, Thailand, and the Philippines. At the city level, London, Bangkok, Barcelona, Istanbul, and Paris topped the list. Kiwi.com data shows that the routes Bangkok-Phuket City, Manila-Caticlan, London-Istanbul, Bogotá-Medellín and Prague-Rome were among the busiest ones in 2024.

Some destinations experienced a higher volume of travel interest in 2024. In Europe, Moldova saw a 68% rise in bookings compared to last year. Bacău city in Romania had a 113% increase in travelers, while Stuttgart, Germany, became particularly popular in the summer due to the football championship, with bookings increasing by 30% in 2024. In addition, interest in Montenegro’s Tivat jumped by 82%.

In Asia, multiple destinations experienced significant growth. For the Philippines, it was cities like Del Carmen (116%), Tacloban (47%), Iloilo City (35%), and Busuanga, Palawan (37%). Bookings to China increased by 67%, with Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, and Shenzhen being among the most popular destinations. Japan and South Korea became more popular as well on Kiwi.com, where 48% more travelers booked to Sapporo, 30% to Busan, and 21% to Okinawa Island, while 65% more travelers decided to discover Jeju City in Korea.

In South America, Brazil saw a 35% rise in bookings. Cities such as Belo Horizonte (+75%), Florianópolis (+43%), Brasília (+37%), São Paulo (+30%), and Rio de Janeiro (+26%) were among the most popular destinations in the region.

Anywhere, Anytime: the trends shaping travel behavior
In 2024, over 2.6 billion searches were made for flights to “Anywhere”, and an additional 1 billion for “Anywhere” and “Anytime” – a feature that suggests destinations based on the departure location, and allows travel enthusiasts to filter by preferences such as price limit.

The longest booking on Kiwi.com in 2024 was 68,025 km and included 10 different flights, hopping around four continents. Overall, 31% of Kiwi.com customers traveled on self-connect itineraries, meaning they had a layover on the way to their final destination. Kiwi.com’s Virtual Interlining technology bringing great route options and prices that cannot be found elsewhere.

The first three weeks of September proved to be a popular time to travel. The often more affordable prices during the off-season, combined with the appeal of less crowded destinations, likely influenced the younger traveler with 53% of Kiwi.com bookings being made by 18-35 year olds choosing to travel at this time.

Flights were purchased on average 28 days in advance, and travelers stayed about six days at their booked destinations. While the prices saw a slight increase of 6.6% in 2024, prices for long-distance trips decreased by 5.8%. Bookings made this year show that in September, travelers booked the cheapest tickets, while when looking on a weekly basis – for Europeans, Mondays between 08:00-16:00 recorded more favorable prices, although the most popular time to book flights on Kiwi.com was on Tuesdays at 19:00. Notably, one traveler managed to book a return ticket from Santiago de Compostela to Palma de Mallorca for just €2.

Travel wish list: exploring less popular destinations
Several countries have seen a significant increase in search volume in 2024, potentially giving insights into what could be trending next year. Central Asia is particularly gaining interest, with Kyrgyzstan (44%), Tajikistan (38%), Kazakhstan (57%), Uzbekistan (46%), and Azerbaijan (21%) – countries known for their rich culture and natural beauty. In Southeast Asia, interest grew for Brunei Darussalam (46%), Cambodia (25%), and Vietnam (22%). In Europe, Guernsey saw a 120% increase in searches, Albania remains popular with a 41% increase, and neighboring Montenegro and Serbia also experienced a rise in interest of 32% and 23% respectively.

–ENDS–

About Kiwi.com
Kiwi.com is a leading global travel tech company headquartered in the Czech Republic. Kiwi.com’s innovative algorithm enables users to find better route options and prices other search engines can’t see, performing billions of price checks per day across 95% of global flight content. 100 million searches are carried out every day on Kiwi.com’s website and partner channels. On average over 50,000 seats are sold daily.