From the Caribbean to the Far East and the Indian Ocean to South Africa, the January “peak season” has seen strong demand for long-haul holiday bookings for the year ahead with sales 14% ahead of last year, according to worldwide travel company Kuoni.

It's been one of the best January and early February sales periods since 2019, as people seek out long-haul winter sun, family adventures and multi-centre escapes.

The Maldives is out in front as number one on the best-sellers list, with Thailand, Mauritius, Sri Lanka, Bali, Antigua, Vietnam, Malaysia, the USA and South Africa respectively all in the top 10.

Other trending destinations for the year ahead include India, Tanzania, Australia and the Seychelles, which are all seeing a rise in bookings since last year.

“We've had a terrific start to the year with a real breadth of destinations around the world selling well, it's clear that long-haul is really winning out right now for lots of different reasons,” said Mark Duguid, managing director of Kuoni.  “Value shines through as a common theme, Vietnam is a good example of somewhere which is leading the way with experience and adventure travel, with contrasting bustling cities, food, culture and fabulous beaches which creates an ultra-special trip but at affordable prices.”

“People are feeling confident and optimistic about making travel plans for the year ahead and making it a priority.  There's a taste for experience-led trips building in exploration, food and wellbeing which is also driving demand, whilst family travel is on the up. Overall family travel is up 40% from last year and proving popular in both short and long-haul destinations.”

Multi-centre trips with more complex itineraries are moving up the best-sellers list, and Kuoni is noticing an upturn in two and three centres with Sri Lanka and Thailand being the most popular for 2025.

The Caribbean as a region is firmly on-trend and multi-island holidays are 7% per cent ahead of last year.  Whilst Antigua tops the list as the favourite island, there's also a trend for blending the more popular all-inclusive islands with smaller, lesser developed islands such as Grenada or Dominica for an authentic Caribbean experience and with Kuoni expanding their range adding Jamaica and Dominican Republic into their collection last year the Caribbean is climbing up the top sellers list at pace, with both of the new additions offering incredible all-inclusive resorts at great value.

The reasons for booking are also evolving with people coming to Kuoni's travel experts with a “blank sheet of paper” asking for wildlife experiences, cookery classes, wellbeing breaks and bucket-list trips they don't want to put off any longer but are open minded about where they go.

Mark Duguid added: “People don't need to wait for the special occasion as an excuse to travel any more, people are making up their own definition of “special”.  

“It used to be big zero birthdays, honeymoons and anniversaries but now it could be anything, teenagers passing exams, couples rekindling a sense of adventure or two friends travelling together to switch off with a pile of books, people are defining their own sense of what makes life special, and travel is something they want to invest in.”

Access the Best Sellers list here https://issuu.com/kuonitravel/docs/kuoni_bestseller_list_2025

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For further information:

Rachel O'Reilly 07866 427870 email: rachel.oreilly@kuoni.co.uk

Stacey Owens 07749 577 162 email: stacey.owens@kuoni.co.uk