Gettin' the Groove Back: Booking.com's 7 Predictions for the Triumphant Return of Travel in 2022

LONDON, Oct. 20, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Booking.com reveals how a renewed sense of optimism is fueling a hunger to make 2022 the year to make the most of the unpredictability and get back out to fully experiencing the world. Travel trends for the year ahead include:

1. Vitamin Vacay - More so than daily exercise or mindful meditation, holidays will become THE form of self-care in 2022, with nearly three-quarters of people (74%) affirming that travel helps their mental and emotional wellbeing more than other forms of rest and relaxation.
2. Resetting the Out Of (Home) Office - we'll see a significant rise in people wanting to take back control in a bid to firmly re-establish a healthy work-life balance as vacation time itself will be strictly work-free for three quarters of travelers (73%) in 2022.
3. All the First-Time Feels - Remember what it was like to board a plane for the very first time? Or even just to check into a hotel? After feeling 'stuck' for so long, rather than rushing through the journey, travelers will be relishing every moment, with almost a fifth (17%) most looking forward to the pure excitement and anticipation as the journey begins.

Booking.com has delved into global booking trends** to share the 8 emerging destinations for travellers to explore in 2022 – with Llandudno, Wales, taking one of the top spots:

• Atlanta, USA
• Taichung, Taiwan
• Gramado, Brazil
• Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic
• Brașov, Romania
• Llandudno, UK
• Montpellier, France
• Melaka, Malaysia

For the full list of Booking.com's 2022 travel predictions and methodologies, visit https://news.booking.com/ or https://www.booking.com/c/trends/travelpredictions2022.html.

About Booking.com:

Part of Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ: BKNG), Booking.com's mission is to make it easier for everyone to experience the world whenever it's safe to do so again. By investing in the technology that helps take the friction out of travel, Booking.com seamlessly connects millions of travelers with memorable experiences, a range of transportation options and incredible places to stay -from homes to hotels and much more. Booking.com is available in 44 languages and offers more than 28 million total reported accommodation listings, including more than 6.6 million listings of homes, apartments and other unique places to stay.

** The data analysts at Booking.com selected the top 1,000 booked destinations during the time period June - September 2021 and ranked them by fastest growing when compared to the window of time of in 2019 (to look at pre-pandemic trends). The destinations were slightly curated to ensure geographic distribution and not feature the same country twice.

Email: lon-booking@ketchum.com
Contact: Jane Kearney