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Hot travel trends for 2007
Save the world
Why not save the world while you're on vacation?
The Travel Industry Association's "Voice of the Traveler" survey from last fall found that 24 percent of travelers are interested in taking a volunteer or service-based vacation.
"People will pay their own way to travel to a place, then donate their time to anything ranging from rebuilding New Orleans after Katrina, to helping orphans, to teaching English," said Travelocity's Ziff. The American Hiking Society organizes volunteers to fix up national parks, while groups like Global Volunteers and Cross-Cultural Solutions send volunteers to help communities around the world.
And don't forget eco-tourism. Garlick was surprised to find that a third of travelers had heard of environmentally correct vacations when asked about them in a recent Internet-based survey conducted by Maritz Hospitality.
"There's a lot more awareness than I suspected," he said. "Then we asked people who'd heard of them, 'Would you consider taking this type of vacation?' Two out of three said they would consider it."
Some travelers have started offsetting the carbon emissions from their flights or car trips by donating to organizations that preserve forests or support renewable sources of energy like solar power. REI Adventures recently announced that it would purchase renewable energy credits to offset the carbon emissions from all of its 2007 tours.
Other travelers may choose to stay in an eco-lodge where food is locally grown and waste is recycled, or they can patronize ski resorts that have gone "green" by buying electricity from wind farms. The San Francisco Marriott has taken its recycling efforts full circle, serving wine from vintners who use compost made from the hotel's food scraps.
Spas
Last fall, the Travel Industry Association's "Voice of the Traveler" survey found that 54 percent of travelers said they were interested in going to a spa or a place where they could relax and rejuvenate, and 28 percent said they were more interested in a spa vacation now than they were five years ago.
While you can find a day spa in just about any mall or hotel, the newest spa trend for 2007, according to Travel + Leisure magazine, is a "longevity retreat" with a focus on medical testing and advice at a destination spa. Among the places offering wellness and health care along with massages and soaks are Canyon Ranch; the California WellBeing Institute; and the Center for Life in Balance at Miraval, in Tucson, Ariz.
Hot destinations
Lonely Planet markets its guides to travelers around the world, but its annual list of hotspots for the new year included a somewhat surprising choice of the U.S. as No. 2 (after China in the top spot). The U.S. entry mentions Hawaii, New Orleans, and New York City's Brooklyn, which was singled out for its arts, restaurants and neighborhoods. Next on the Lonely Planet list were Morocco, Argentina, Brazil, Turkey, Nicaragua, Spain and Greece, followed by Cuba, Mexico and India tying for 10th place. (Tourism travel to Cuba by U.S. residents and citizens is banned by the U.S. Department of the Treasury.)
Frommer's, another top travel guidebook publishing company, offered a list of a dozen standout destinations for 2007, beginning with Krakow, Poland, followed by Tokyo; Minneapolis; Panama; Asheville, N.C.; Ethiopia; Portland, Ore.; Virgin Gorda in the British Virgin Islands; Okanagan Valley, British Columbia, Canada; Glen Canyon, Utah; Zurich, Switzerland; and Portland, Maine. (The list including Ethiopia was compiled before an outbreak of fighting between Ethiopia and Somalia.)
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