Saying that everyone was champing at the bit for travel in 2022 after enduring years of lockdowns is an understatement. Airports the world over were thrown into chaos, and if Instagram is a reliable source of information, it seemed like everyone and their mum was holidaying in Europe during our southern hemisphere winter. But what were the most-searched travel destinations of the year, and where are people most keen to go in 2023?
According to Airbnb, which based its study on searches made on its platform, the top trending global destination of 2022 was Bangkok, Thailand. Sydney came in at number two, followed by Málaga in Spain, Seoul in South Korea and in a not-so-shabby fifth place, Melbourne. Brisbane rounded out the list at number ten, beaten by three cities in Brazil and Auckland in New Zealand.
For people's 2023 travel hit lists, Málaga, Spain scored the top spot followed by none other than Sydney and Melbourne. While we're not thrilled that NSW beat us out, especially after we outranked them as the world's most LGBTQIA+-friendly city and the world's friendliest city overall, we're still chuffed to be in the top three and know that our fair city is top of mind for global travellers.