Surprising! This is the trend travel destination in Europe in 2025 2026

12. Juni 2025, 6:59 Uhr | Lesezeit: 5 Minuten

For many Germans, summer vacation is just around the corner and if you haven't booked yet, you might be looking to see where the others are going - either to go there too or to turn in the opposite direction. In a recent analysis, the Mastercard Economics Institute (MEI), a research and analysis department of the payment service provider Mastercard, has identified the trend travel destinations for 2025 in Europe and worldwide, i.e. those that attract the most visitors and the cities that are recording the greatest growth. The top 1 in Europe is particularly surprising. Or maybe not?

Tirana is the city break destination with the largest growth in Europe

Albania's capital Tirana recorded the largest increase in European visitors between 2019 and 2024. A whopping 178.8 percent increase, to be exact. According to the Mastercard Economics Institute, “(the city) is one of the fastest-growing urban destinations in Europe.” Above all, people from Italy in particular seem to have found new love in the Albanian capital. Because it is Italians in particular who seem to be flocking to Tirana in droves.

How does the growing flow of visitors come about? In addition to the obvious reasons that make the city trip destination interesting - we'll just briefly mention the culture, history, comparatively low prices, the starting point for trips to the country with its exciting UNESCO World Heritage sites - it's probably simply advertising. Albania has been actively promoting the country for several years now, thereby boosting tourism (Sunnytrips reported).

Sunnytrips itself nominated the Albanian Alps for a Sunnytrips Award in 2023 and last year Albania was the most successful travel destination in Europe according to the UN World Tourism Barometer. Just recently, “Time Out” magazine put Tirana at the top of the best and cheapest city break destinations for this year (Sunnytrips reported). This year too, Albania was the guest country of the ITB tourism trade fair. In addition to all the obviously exciting sides of Tirana, many people have recently had Albania on their radar - and therefore also its capital Tirana.

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The top 15 trend travel destinations for Europeans by growth from 2019 to 2024

In addition to Tirana, there are several other travel destinations that are also seeing a strong increase in European travelers. Mastercard Economics Institute has mapped the 15 largest growth cities by net passenger numbers in the 2019 to 2024 cycle. Sunnytrips shows the results in this ranking.

1. Tirana, Albania (+178.8 percent)
2. Antalya, Türkiye (+69.9 percent)
3. Paris, Frankreich (+11,8 Prozent)
4. Alicante, Spanien (+26,5 Prozent)
5. Tenerife, Spain (+35.9 percent)
6. Dubai, United Arab Emirates (+15 percent)
7. Jeddah, Saudi Arabia (+144 percent)
8. Milan, Italy (+9.2 percent)
9. Malaga, Spain (+15.1 percent)
10. Manchester, United Kingdom (+13.1 percent)
11. Warschau, Polen (+23,7 Prozent)
12. Istanbul, Türkiye (+9.8 percent)
13. Bristol, United Kingdom (+28.6 percent)
14. Belgrade, Serbia (+42.2 percent)
15. Hurghada, Egypt (+61.1 percent)

Note: According to MEI, the rank shows the net increase. The growth in passenger numbers can be seen in brackets.

And where do Germans like to fly most or most often? The travel destination with the most growth from Germany between 2019 and 2024 is Antalya. This is followed by Tirana, Tunis in Tunisia, Belgrade, Izmir in Turkey, Male in the Maldives, Dubai, Pristina in Serbia, Doha in Qatar and the Greek Chania in Crete.

In a global comparison, Tirana ranks tenth among the cities with the greatest growth in air travelers. First up is Tokyo in Japan. And that also tops the list of this year's trend travel destinations.

These are the global trend travel destinations for summer 2025

Based on data from the OAG Aviation Worldwide Limited flight database, the Mastercard Economics Institute identified not only the fastest-growing city break destinations but also the world's most popular summer travel destinations this year. Flight bookings up to March for trips between June and September 2025 were taken into account. These were compared with the comparative data from last year.

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The result is a top 15 trendy summer travel destinations, which is led by Tokyo. The Japanese capital recorded an increase of almost 0.3 percent compared to the previous year. As early as 2024, it was the most visited city in the world, pushing Bangkok from its usual top spot that the Thai capital had held for the last decade, according to MEI.

The world's second most popular summer travel destination this year is also in Japan: Osaka shows an almost 0.2 percent increase in tourism demand. Both cities have long become trendy travel destinations, partly because of the devaluation of the Japanese yen, as the MEI explains. In third place among the trend travel destinations and just behind Osaka is a classic city trip destination: Paris.

The 15 trending travel destinations in summer 2025 according to the Mastercard Economics Institute

1. Tokio, Japan
2. Osaka, Japan
3. Paris, France
4. Shanghai, China
5. Palma de Mallorca, Spanien
6. Seoul, South Korea
7. Beijing, China
8. Madrid, Spanien
9. Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
10. Singapore, Singapore
11. Nha Trang, Vietnam
12. Reykjavík, Island
13. Fukuoka, Japan
14. Hurghada, Egypt
15. Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt

For travelers from Europe, Tokyo is also the number one travel destination. Second place, however, goes to the capital of the Germans' favorite island, Palma de Mallorca. This is followed by Osaka, Hurghada and Beijing, Paris, Larnaca on Cyprus, London, Sharm El-Sheikh and Alghero on Sardinia.

However, fewer international travelers appear to be visiting the USA this year. According to the MEI, which cites the International Trade Administration (ITA), the number of air travelers between the USA and Western Europe had already “decreased by 1.2 percent in March compared to the previous year”. Fewer people also traveled to the USA from Canada.

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