Travel Trends: What's Hot for 2008

Still, Italy was named the No. 1 international destination by the U.S. Tour Operators Association for 2008, and Frommer says Italy is still the place travelers ask about most often on the call-in radio show she hosts with her father, Arthur Frommer.

Lisbon, Portugal, saw a 20 percent increase in American visitors in 2006, and had the biggest increase of any international destination in page views on Yahoo Travel Guides. "Lisbon is the last affordable European city and was our top mover in 2007," said Waslander.

Ziff said the share of Travelocity bookings to Western Europe over the Thanksgiving holiday were down 4.4 percent in 2007 compared to 2006. But bookings to Eastern Europe are up over 25 percent. "The Ukraine is up 11 percent, Lithuania, Latvia and Slovenia are getting an increase and starting to register on my radar," Ziff said. "They're the next hot places."

LATIN AMERICA
Travel by U.S. residents in the first nine months of this year was up 8 percent to Central America and 7.6 percent to South America, according to the Commerce Department.

Why the surge? The dollar goes further in Latin America than in Europe, and "the old image of South American countries - dictatorships and machine guns - is gone," said Bob Whitley, president of the USTOA. "Instead, South America and Central America are the new hot destinations."

Travelocity bookings show "Guatemala is up considerably, Panama is a trendsetter destination and with Nicaragua, people are getting curious about what's there," Ziff said.

Yahoo Travel also reports El Salvador and Panama among its up-and-coming destinations for 2008.

CANADA
Although Canada was the No. 2 destination for U.S. travel abroad in 2006, the number of Americans flying north continues to decrease, down 4 percent in 2006 and down 3.4 percent in the first nine months of 2007, according to Commerce Department statistics. The strong Canadian dollar and new rules requiring passports for air travel from Canada to the U.S., didn't help.

Still, with Vancouver hosting the 2010 Winter Olympics, Canada's Pacific Northwest is on the radar for many travelers - especially powder-hounds. Canada made it on to Lonely Planet's top 10 list, and a Conde Nast Traveler reader survey named Whistler No. 1 in the magazine's "Best Places to Ski & Stay in North America."

ASIA
Travel to Asia by U.S. residents was up 8.6 percent the first nine months of 2007. China was the 10th most visited country in 2006 by Americans traveling abroad, according to the Commerce Department. And CoSport, the authorized ticket broker for Beijing's 2008 Olympics, reports "high demand and limited supply" on its Web site. As of mid-December, nothing but tickets for handball were available to Americans.