Where to? Colombian vendors show off the vibrance of a travel sector in bloom. Photo / Jan Sochor, Getty Images
Where to? Colombian vendors show off the vibrance of a travel sector in bloom. Photo / Jan Sochor, Getty Images
It's that time of the year when travel magazines share their travel wishlists and trips they are most looking forward to in the year ahead.
At the end of January, we've heard from the likes of Lonely Planet and CNN as they list their travel tips for 2019. And it would appear there are some hot favourites emerging.
We've had a go at summarising travel trends and destinations for the year ahead.
From the luxury wish lists of Forbes to adventures on the wilder side by Nat Geo Traveller it can be hard to keep track of the diverging itineraries.
With so many lists and opinions, what's the consensus? Are there any destination that are set to make 2019 their own?
At least everyone can agree on one thing - it's not a year to stay at home.
Here's our map featuring the places you'll be heading to in 2019.
The Top Spots
US and Mexico
Rising to the top are the perennial favourites, as destinations in the United States and Mexico have a huge representation from US-based travel publications.
The year to rediscover Mexico: Mexico City 'World Design Capital'. Photo / Getty Images
In spite of a difficult start to the year, the focus on the southern border has led to a renewed interest in all things Mexican.
Architectural gem Mexico City makes multiple appearances in the lists – wearing its new title of 'World Design Capital' with pride.
Surprisingly Canada is only mentioned four times – with cultural capital Toronto making the must see lists of both National Geographic Travel and Travel + Leisure, as 2019 sees the launch of the first Toronto Biennial of Art.
Egyptian workers restore Pharaoh Ramses II at the Grand Egyptian Museum (GEM) which opens this year. Photo / Getty Images
Egypt: Return to the Kings
Egypt seems to be recovering from a curse.
Since the 2011 Arab Spring, the holiday staple fell from an annual count of 15 million visitors to a low of 4.8 million.
The troubled region's political problems and the 2015 incident on MetroJet flight 9268 were enough to empty the once bustling resorts.
However, travellers are finally returning.
Nat Geo Travel highlights the opening of "Grand Egyptian Museum in early 2019" as one of many reasons to come back to Cairo.
Tourists aren't the only ones returning. Kenneth Branagh's new movie adaptation of Agatha Christie's classic Death on the Nile comes "just as Egypt prepares to welcome the luxe St. Regis Cairo," Travel + Leisure advises.
Slow travel: Take your time though Ishikawa Japan. Photo / Getty Images
Japan: RWC is no rehearsal
Host cities of the Rugby World Cup pepper this year's recommendations like so much wasabi.
Shunning Tokyo, the site of next year's Olympic Games, travel guides are out in the prefectures seeing what's good to see, eat and experience.
The castle city of Fukuoka in southern Japan is championed by CNN, while the Independent would have us visit Osaka.
Meanwhile, Condé Nast Traveler sends emissaries to not one but two spots on its list for 2019.
The opened up with the bullet train from Tokyo – the magazine recommends "Slow Travel" through the fast opening up Noto Peninsula.
With "29 lantern festivals, rugged coastline, picturesque fishing villages, hot spring resorts, unique food, and several world-class ryokans," Ishikawa is a place to take your time.
Hopeful and dynamic: The Cardboard cathedral in Christchurch. Photo / Getty Images
2019: The year the world came to Christchurch
It wouldn't be a best-in-travel round up without an appearance from Aotearoa. New Zealand finds consensus with four publications.
Last year, Rotorua was the leisure hot spot that was on everybody's minds, with multiple write-ups and a royal visit. But 2019 is Christchurch's year.
CNN praises the garden city and its drastic eight-year redevelopment as being "respectful of locals" and "thoughtful of the environment, creating a city that feels at once hopeful and dynamic."
Meanwhile, National Geographic heads straight to the GODZone for the 2019 edition of the expeditionary race across Canterbury this March.
Outliers: Emerging travel trends in 2019
Rwanda's gorillas get a new lease of life. Photo / Christophe Courteau, Getty Images
Hotel in Rwanda
The country of Rwanda is still inextricably linked to the genocide that happened there in 90s.
Yet publications are saying 2019 is the year to rethink what it means to visit Africa's greenest country.
Gorillas are the country's big draw card. With conservation efforts more than quadrupling the population of mountain gorillas, Condé Nast Traveler says 2019 is the year to do Rwanda's "Primate Circuit." Take in the Virunga volcano range at Chimp Lodge in Nyongo or the newly opened Gorilla's Nest by One&Only.
From the green of the jungle to the green city of Kigali, Travel + Leisure praises Rwanda's capital as the "epicentre of progressive sustainability in East Africa".
Israeli illuminations: Jaffa is Tel Aviv's historic arts quarter. Photo / Getty Images
A Jaffa in Israel
You might take the Jafa out of Auckland, but 2019 is the year for Aucklanders to visit the Jaffa in Tel Aviv.
The 4000-year-old Yafo (or Jaffa as it's known in English) has undergone huge amounts of change as Tel Aviv's coolest cultural quarter. Jaffa is also home to the first Israeli whiskey distillery.
"Before you have to ask -- yes, it's kosher," says CNN's Lilit Marcus who highlights the still.
Condé Nast Traveler would have us "go beyond Israel's greatest hits" in 2019 and as Susan Weissberg would recommends an outing into the biblical Negev desert.
Meanwhile the Independent's travel desk heads to Eilat, as Israel opens up a new airport to "turn the Red Sea into a 'fly and flop' destination".
Big Blue Hole: Belize is an exotic mix of Caribbean and Mayan charm. Photo / Getty Images
Belize: How blue?
This English-speaking enclave of Central America is bordered by the Caribbean and the world's second largest coral reef. With a mix of Mayan, Creole and Gulf cultures, the food and beaches are deliciously exotic.
Lonely Planet praises Belize as "a slice of Central America that's relatively untouristed, safe and tantalisingly easy to reach".
Forbes visits the Mayan-inspired luxury eco-resort of Itz'ana.
National Geographic Travel heads straight to Belize's big Blue Hole, saying that 2019 is "the year to snorkel, dive, kayak, or stand-up paddleboard the waters of the Belize barrier reef".
Back in the saddle: Salalah in Oman. Photo / Getty Images
Oman takes the reins
While many of the Gulf States and the Middle East have fallen out of favour, Oman is back in the saddle as a tourist hot spot. The horse culture of Oman is having a revival alongside interest in the Arabian horse breed.
National Geographic highlights the desert kingdom as heaven for equestrians, saying "riders can explore the Hajar mountains, go deep into the twisting gorges of Wadi an Nakhur, and gallop for miles along Gulf of Oman beaches or the endless red dunes of the Rub al Khali".
If you are not into "gee-gees" and just want to sight-see, both CNN and Travel + Leisure highlight the "banana forests, dolphin-filled waters, and the Unesco-listed Frankincense Trail" as reasons to visit the state - made even more accessible by the newly expanded Muscat International Airport.
For Travel + Leisure "Scotland's scenery steals the show", as it chases Margot Robie though the filming locations of Mary Queen of Scots.
CNN heads to the ancient home of tweed and standing stones on an Odyssey of the Hebrides.
"Each Hebridean island has its own distinctive vibe, but they're all grounded in a similar small-town community spirit."
We presume they don't just mean Whiskey.
Meanwhile the Independent indulges in a bit of trainspotting – checking out the rail services launched at the end of last year to speed up public transport between the urban hubs.
"Even though these trains date from the 1970s, they will offer more seats, more comfort and, eventually, faster journey times between Scotland's seven cities."
The brand new V&A Gallery of the North has put Dundee in the international spotlight as a cultural city on the rise. 2019 is the year that Scotland reinvents its twee tartan heritage and presents itself in a new light.
