The travel trend for 2024: Destination Dupes

Skip popular tourist hotspots for lesser known travel destinations that are unexpected, more affordable and every bit as delightful for an unforgettable holiday minus the crowds

A TikTok trend has reached travel.

The latest travel trend blowing up on social media is called destination duping and it involves shunning major tourist centres/cities for equally interesting and affordable alternatives. A travel twin, if you may.

Travel tech company Expedia was the first to mention destination dupes in their trends for 2024. ‘In the Expedia Trends in Travel report, dupes are destinations that are a little unexpected, sometimes more affordable, but every bit as delightful as the tried-and-true places travellers love’ writes Melanie Fish, chief trend tracker for Expedia Brands. Examples of destination dupes include Taipei instead of Seoul, Perth instead of Sydney, and Pattaya instead of Bangkok.

International holiday platform, Travel Local, is seeing more requests from customers who are seeking quieter alternatives to some popular tourist ‘hotspots. “For example, 10 years ago most of our Greece requests might have been centred around Santorini or Mykonos. Customers are now considering lesser-known alternatives such as Cephalonia or Folegandros,” says co-founder, Huw Owen.

“The benefits [of destination duping] are numerous, including experiencing similar attractions with fewer crowds and lower costs, while also contributing to sustainability by relieving tourism pressure from overcrowded areas,” says Daniel D’Souza, president and country head-Holidays, SOTC Travel.

Both SOTC Travel and Thomas Cook have found that Indians are choosing domestic destinations resembling major international tourist sites — Gulmarg and Khajjiar for the Swiss Alps, Andaman’s beaches comparable to Phuket, Andhra Pradesh’s Gandikota Hills known as India’s Grand Canyon, and tea estates in Munnar resembling the Cameron Highlands in Malaysia.

“In a way that is kind of what I have been doing these last few years,” says Phalguni Desai, programme coordinator, Goethe-Institut Mumbai. The self-confessed ‘mountain person’ would often travel to Dharamshala and Nainital, but now prefers Mirik, a small town in West Bengal. “It has all the things I loved about going to the hills…forests, people living in a unique culture, a food and culture that is familiar but also different, and a softer hill vibe.”