What better way to beat the January blues than getting a holiday in the diary? If you’ve thought that recently, you’re not alone. The first Saturday after New Year (and thereby our first day off after returning to work) is one of the busiest days of the year for booking trips. It’s so busy, in fact, that it’s known among travel industry experts as ‘Sunshine Saturday’.
To mark the big day – which this year fell on January 6 – the UK’s travel agent association ABTA released its list of the top ten global destinations to watch in 2024. ‘Sunshine Saturday’ might have passed, but if you’re yet to book your big breaks of the year, there’s plenty of inspiration in there.
For the first time, the association’s yearly report features a UK destination. Sitting among the likes of Vietnam, Albania and Mauritius was the humble UK county of Shropshire. ABTA described it as a ‘rural gem’ and an ‘idyllic English county on the Welsh borders’ with ‘some of the country’s most beautiful landscapes, towns and villages’.
There famously aren’t any cities in Shropshire but it's home to a bunch of historic towns like Ludlow, Shrewsbury and Oswestry. Visitors can stroll the Shropshire Hills, peruse markets and stop by its substantial roster of cosy country pubs.
ABTA said the UK inclusion was in recognition of the popularity of staycations and the ‘the great importance of UK breaks to ABTA members and their customers’. You can find out more about 2024’s other trending destinations on the ABTA website here.
2024 travel with Time Out
As Time Out, we obviously believe that you can never have too much travel inspo. We’ve carefully curated our own collection of 2024 guides, from the 15 best places to visit in the UK to the best new things to do in the UK this year. For those wanting an adventure overseas, these are the best European city breaks and these are the best things to do across the globe this year.
Did you see that this is officially Britain’s best Sunday roast?
Plus: this Scottish city has been named the best in the UK for ‘standard of living’.
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