What's ahead in travel for 2008

Latin America
Travel by U.S. residents in the first nine months of this year was up 8 percent to Central America and 7.6 percent to South America, according to the Commerce Department.

Why the surge? The dollar goes further in Latin America than in Europe, and "the old image of South American countries -dictatorships and machine guns — is gone," said Bob Whitley, president of the USTOA. "Instead, South America and Central America are the new hot destinations."

Travelocity bookings show "Guatemala is up considerably, Panama is a trendsetter destination and with Nicaragua, people are getting curious about what's there," Ziff said.

Yahoo Travel also reports El Salvador and Panama among its up-and-coming destinations for 2008.

Canada
Although Canada was the No. 2 destination for U.S. travel abroad in 2006, the number of Americans flying north continues to decrease, down 4 percent in 2006 and down 3.4 percent in the first nine months of 2007, according to Commerce Department statistics. The strong Canadian dollar and new rules requiring passports for air travel from Canada to the U.S., didn't help.

Greg Baker / AP FILE Ice skating on a frozen moat which surrounds Beijing's Forbidden City. China was the 10th most visited country in 2006 by Americans traveling abroad, according to the Commerce Department.

Still, with Vancouver hosting the 2010 Winter Olympics, Canada's Pacific Northwest is on the radar for many travelers — especially powder-hounds. Canada made it on to Lonely Planet's top 10 list, and a Conde Nast Traveler reader survey named Whistler No. 1 in the magazine's "Best Places to Ski & Stay in North America."

Asia
Travel to Asia by U.S. residents was up 8.6 percent the first nine months of 2007. China was the 10th most visited country in 2006 by Americans traveling abroad, according to the Commerce Department. And CoSport, the authorized ticket broker for Beijing's 2008 Olympics, reports "high demand and limited supply" on its Web site. As of mid-December, nothing but tickets for handball were available to Americans.

Caribbean
Air travel to the Caribbean by U.S. residents was down 3.1 percent in the first nine months of this year, according to the Commerce Department. The downturn coincided with new rules requiring passports for re-entry to the U.S. by air.

Vacation activities
"American consumers are sight-doing, not just sightseeing," said Whitley.

Frommer agreed: "Yes, you want to see the Louvre, but people are taking the time to take a cooking class or a wine-tasting. In Paris you can even take a Rollerblade tour. There's also a trend toward specialization on tours — women-only tours, religious tours, even knitting tours." (Details at http://www.pari-roller.com/ and http://www.stitchawaytours.com/.)

JWT, the largest ad agency in the U.S. (formerly J. Walter Thompson), lists "climate sightseeing" as a top travel trend for 2008, meaning trips to see phenomena threatened by climate change, like glaciers in Alaska or polar bears in Manitoba, Canada.

"More and more people want to relish these wonders while they still exist in their current form," said Ann Mack, director of trendspotting for JWT. "And there's a conversational currency that comes with that. You're a more intriguing person the more obscure places you've been to."

Deal of the Day Newfoundland and Labrador Explore World Heritage sites, glimpse into the life of the Vikings, more, from $1,635.

The number of visitors to Alaska has increased steadily in the past two decades, with 2 million visitors last summer, a 3 percent increase over the previous year.

And "Kilimanjaro has been a recent hot destination because of its melting glacier," said Lake Waslander of Yahoo.

While National Geographic Expeditions tours are up 35 percent in the last year, the number of travelers signing up for its Alaska trips increased by 63 percent; Antarctica, 68 percent, and Arctic Norway, a polar bear-watching trip, has doubled.

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