The US is poised to be the most popular destination for international air travellers at Christmas, with Thailand a strong second, new research reveals.
Other top destinations for the festive period are the United Arab Emirates, China, India, Mexico, the UK, Japan, Spain and France.
The US is also the top source market, with 16.3% of all outbound travellers. It is also showing strong growth with booked departures over the Christmas period – currently 7.9% ahead of last year.
The UK, Germany, Canada and Australia make up the top five global source markets, showing year-on-year bookings currently ahead by 10.5%, 8.8%, 9.5% and 13.8% respectively.
The data was released by travel intelligence firm ForwardKeys, which monitors future travel patterns by analysing 16 million reservation transactions a day.
Among the top ten destinations worldwide, the US has an 11.4 % share of people booked to arrive in the Christmas travel period between December 23 and 26, and staying at least one night.
Based on bookings up to December 12, Thailand will have a 4.5% share of international arrivals, the UAE will be in third place with a 4.3% share, China will have a 4.1% share and India a 3.6% share.
ForwardKeys chief executive Olivier Jager said: “The USA is the largest travel market in the world so you would expect it to be a top destination for Christmas and in addition, our numbers capture Americans returning home for the festive season.
“Thailand, with lots on offer for visitors, from beautiful beaches to spectacular temples and an extremely tourist-friendly culture, is a particularly popular place to spend Christmas.
“The UAE will also do extremely well during this period owing to aggressive promotional activity by Dubai, encouraging travellers to take at least one overnight stay to enjoy the local attractions.”
When it comes to busiest international hub airports, the growth of the Gulf is the main story.
The home bases of Emirates and Qatar Airways, are expected to be the busiest international hub airports over Christmas and new year with Dubai 14.4% up and Doha 13.4% ahead.
Dubai will be the busiest airport on December 23 – the top day for arrivals and departures.
By analysing future arrivals, ForwardKeys reveals a detailed profile of who will be in the airport over the peak period hour between 7am and 8am.
Analysis of arrivals during this time slot indicates 37% will come from the UK, 8% from Spain and 7% from the Netherlands. The leading departures will be for the UK 26%, Spain 11% and Saudi Arabia 7%.