Where to go in 2018: the FT’s top travel destinations
From the Karakoram to the Seychelles, travel industry leaders pick the destinations for the coming year
Pakistan
Trekkers cross a rope bridge over the Hunza River in northern Pakistan © Kiren Nelson
For much of the past decade, Pakistan has been synonymous in many people’s minds with terrorism and unrest — the place Osama bin Laden was killed, where Malala Yousafzai was shot, and where climbers preparing to scale an 8,000m peak were murdered in their tents. And yet in the past three years, an improvement in the security situation has prompted the beginnings of an unlikely tourism surge. “While I am sure this will raise some eyebrows, we are starting to see a marked increase in tourism to Pakistan,” says Jonny Bealby of Wild Frontiers. His company took 55 per cent more clients to the country in 2017 compared with the previous year, and advance bookings are more than 100 per cent up on this point 12 months ago. In 2015 the UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office relaxed warnings about visiting large areas of the mountainous north; figures from the state-owned Pakistan Tourism Development Corporation suggest total arrivals have tripled since then, to a total of 1.75m in 2017.
A publicity drive — including covering London buses with photographs of Pakistani scenes — as well as celebrations in 2017 marking the 70th anniversary of the country’s formation, have helped raise the nation’s profile. Roads have been improved, including the resurfacing of large stretches of the fabled Karakoram Highway, and domestic airline connections increased.
“Of course, I realise the country still has a long way to go before it can attract the numbers of adventure tourists that came here pre-9/11, but there is no doubt things are on the up,” says Bealby.
Zimbabwe
“With Mugabe going and a wave of optimism (misplaced or not), lodges are opening up again and a new crop of guides are returning,” says Christopher Wilmot-Sitwell of Cazenove+Loyd. “Zimbabwe has always had spectacular landscape and amazing game viewing, now its people want to show it off again and they deserve the world’s support.”
In fact, the tourism numbers have been growing slowly since 2012, rising by 5 per cent year on year to 2.17m in 2016 (though arrivals from Europe — 137,183 in 2016 — were still less than half the number who came back in 1999). Chris McIntyre at Expert Africa says 2017 saw an acceleration in the trend (his Zimbabwe bookings for the year were up 37 per cent), which is now likely to take off even further. “After a long time, the country is becoming more ‘acceptable’ to travellers,” he says. “This year, we had fewer long conversations with enquirers about the safety or ethical probity of visiting Zimbabwe, and those chats that we did have were shorter than in previous years.”
As well as becoming more attractive to visitors, increased stability has encouraged greater inward investment from tourism businesses based elsewhere in southern Africa. In April 2017, for example, Malawi-based Robin Pope Safaris took over John’s Camp, a temporary camp in Zimbabwe’s Mana Pools national park, making it more permanent and luxurious (it is known for its walking safaris, pictured above). New openings in 2018 include Verney’s Camp in Hwange national park (from owners who run camps in Botswana) as well as three new camps from South Africa-based Great Plains Conservation.
St Helena
Diving with whale sharks off St Helena © Getty/Lonely Planet
The airport dubbed the “world’s most useless”, built at a cost to the British government of £285m, finally opened to commercial services in October. Concerns over unforeseen wind shear had led to 18 months of delays while experts decided if it was safe for larger jets to use the runway. So far, there is only one service — a weekly flight from Johannesburg by South African carrier Airlink — and yet even that has revolutionised the concept of tourism on the island, home to fewer than 5,000 residents. Previously visitors had to travel by boat from Cape Town, a six-day journey, and were entirely dependent on its schedules. Now several tour operators are launching trips for 2018, focusing on walking, wildlife, history and in particular, diving. “Known as the ‘Galápagos of the Atlantic’, it should be on every adventurous diver’s bucket list in 2018,” says Phil North of Dive Worldwide. “It offers a pristine, seldom dived underwater environment, home to a staggering variety of marine life and some great wreck diving too. The highlight, though, is the aggregation of whale sharks that happens each year between December and March.” Be warned though: “The weekly flight takes a maximum of 78 passengers, so book well in advance,” says Jennifer Atkinson of ITC Travel Group.
Saudi Arabia
Mada’in Saleh in Saudi Arabia © Bloomberg
In November, Saudi Arabian officials arrived in London to set up their stand at World Travel Market, a major industry trade fair, hoping to drum up interest among potential visitors. It wasn’t their first time at the show — they also exhibited in 2014 — and travel agents and tour operators were again eager to hear about what the country has to offer, from the rock-hewn tombs of the ancient Nabataean kingdom at Mada’in Saleh, known as the Petra of Saudi Arabia, to the vast western desert dunes traversed by T.E. Lawrence and the long Red Sea coastline of pristine coral reefs and islands. The appeal was clear, there was only one problem: Saudi Arabia doesn’t actually allow tourists to visit.
Finally, despite several false starts and unfulfilled rumours, that looks set to change in 2018. Prince Sultan bin Salman bin Abdulaziz, head of the Saudi Commission for Tourism and National Heritage, has announced that tourist visas will begin to be issued in the first quarter. The move is part of an ongoing drive to change the country’s image, along with lifting a ban on cinemas and allowing women to drive. A major development project is under way to create luxury resorts on islands in the Red Sea, but it is the desert ruins and heritage that are most likely to attract visitors in 2018 — along with the thrill of being the first to see places so little-explored by outsiders. Tourists will have to make their own decisions about the ethics of travelling to the country, setting its poor human rights record against the liberalising effects of foreign visitors.
Justin Wateridge at Steppes Travel welcomed the news and is planning a series of expert-led trips in November, having won special permission to take a group in 2017. “There was much that I did not expect,” he says, “but my overriding impression was one of hospitality and smiles.”
Seychelles
The beach at Desroches Island, Seychelles
Visitor numbers to the Seychelles have doubled since 2010 but flight connections remain limited, with many travellers having to fly via the Middle East. That situation will improve in March, when British Airways is due to launch the only service between the UK and the Indian Ocean nation, and again in May, when Air France’s new offshoot Joon begins flights from Paris. “Without the need to change planes en route, it might also encourage more visitors to island-hop around the archipelago, which consists of more than 100 islands,” says Jennifer Atkinson of ITC Travel Group.
BA’s flight coincides with the opening of Four Season’s new hotel on Desroches Island, a remote coral island retreat reached via a 35-minute flight from Mahé. The resort is likely to be popular with honeymooners — most of the 71 suites and villas have private pools; all have direct access to the island’s nine miles of white sand beaches.
Georgia
Interest in eastern European destinations is growing across the board, with Romania, Bulgaria and Slovenia all tipped by members of the panel. Georgia, though, looks set for particular growth in 2018 as it celebrates the centenary of its independence. Previously getting there from many countries has involved awkward plane changes in Moscow or Vienna, but since May 2017 Georgian Airways has been flying twice a week direct from London to Tbilisi, something Jonny Bealby says “has been a real game changer”. “Beyond its epic mountain scenery, it has a fascinating history; Arabs, Russians, Persians, Turks, Crusader knights and Silk Road traders have all left their mark,” he says. Last summer Wizz Air also launched flights between London and Kutaisi, in the west of the country, allowing travellers to make overland journeys between Tbilisi and Kutaisi without backtracking. In 2018, Wizz will expand its network from Kutaisi, with direct flights to Paris, Barcelona and Rome. “You don’t have to be a diehard trekker to enjoy the Caucasus,” says Justin Wateridge of Steppes. “Take day walks among snow-capped peaks punctuated by sumptuous picnics, visits to vineyards, old villages and churches.”
Tbilisi is even emerging as a cultural weekend destination, thanks to its museum of modern art, thriving gallery scene, 8,000 years of winemaking heritage and cuisine heavy on barbecued meats, walnuts, salads and olives.
Canada
While adventurous, off-the-beaten track regions tend to create the most excitement, one of the key trends of recent years has been the retreat to “safe haven” destinations. Canada is a good example, helped in 2017 by events surrounding the 150th anniversary of its independence. “We have seen a 100 per cent increase in passengers to Canada in 2017, with clients mostly travelling to British Columbia in search of wildlife and wilderness,” says Justin Wateridge of Steppes.
Norman Howe, of Butterfield & Robinson, agrees: “British Columbia combines a dramatic coastline with soaring mountains and pristine wilderness, plus world class hotels, big animals, and a range of activities that thrust you deep into the outdoors.” Among new activity operators is Hastings Overland, which launched in June 2017, renting out Jeep 4x4s equipped with roof-top tents, custom-made tailgate kitchens and camping gear (pictured above). Guests drive themselves but are given bespoke itineraries guiding them to remote sights and camping spots. Meanwhile, Ecotours BC has a new floating tented lodge in the heart of grizzly country on Quesnel Lake. In March, skiers can take a unique trip run by Kicking Horse Powder Tours and led by Eddie “the Eagle” Edwards, including skiing at Kicking Horse and ski jumping in Calgary, scene of his 1988 “triumph”.
Bolivia
One of Black Tomato’s dome tents on Uyuni salt flats, Bolivia
Tipped by Norman Howe, Tom Marchant and Justin Wateridge, Bolivia is evolving from a backpacker destination to one offering luxury alongside its otherworldly landscapes and Andean cultural heritage. The appearance of the dramatic Uyuni salt flats in the final scenes of the new Star Wars film will help Bolivia’s profile, but tour operators are more excited about a series of pop-up luxury camps that will let visitors explore in style. Justin Wateridge at Steppes recommends an overland trip using the new camps to travel from La Paz overland to San Pedro de Atacama, in Chile, skirting around Bolivia’s highest peak, Sajama. Meanwhile, Tom Marchant of Black Tomato highlights the appeal of La Paz itself, once known for its chaotic traffic and sprawling slums but now earning a reputation as a culinary destination. “With unbelievably fresh ingredients, from tropical Amazonian fish to potatoes naturally freeze dried on the altiplano, the city has become a hotbed of culinary talent,” he says