Asia Pacific continues to rank high for desirable destinations among global holidaymakers, nabbing eight spots on a new list of the world’s top 15 trending summer travel destinations.
Mastercard Economics Institute’s Travel Trends 2025 report on consumer spending shows a distinct preference among global travellers for Asia with perennially popular Japan taking pole position with the top two holiday hotspots in the global trending summer destinations 2025.
Global trending summer destinations 2025
Tokyo was listed as the number one destination for summer travel (July – September 2025), followed by Osaka in the second spot. The data suggests Japan’s popularity is fuelled by favourable exchange rates against the weaker yen in 2024.
Vietnam’s Nha Trang was a new entry into the global trending summer destinations 2025 list this year at number 11, highlighting increasing tourism demand.
The global trending summer destinations 2025 list also included other APAC destinations, such as Shanghai (4), Seoul (6), Beijing (7), Singapore (10) and Fukuoka (13).
The data also showed that an increase in direct flights from China and India to certain APAC holiday hotspots is driving the outbound travel volume.
Together, the two markets continue to play an outsized role in shaping global travel flows.
No Australian or New Zealand cities made it into the global trending summer destinations 2025 list, however, Queenstown ranks high for meaningful experiences and the Australian Open draws significant international spend.
According to MEI’s Wellness Trend Index (WTI), Thailand is among the destinations leading the way in relaxation experiences and self-care. The rising WTI score for New Zealand also suggests a growing effort to be part of this popular movement.
In other analysis, according to MEI, fraud in popular tourist destinations spikes up to 28 per cent during peak seasons. Common scams include inflated charges in restaurants and taxis, fake tour companies and fraudulent property listings.
Read the full report here.
