Ishigaki island, Japan: The top trending destination

A small island with a population of around fifty,000 in Japan's southwestern Okinawa Prefecture – that has been compared to Hawaii within the past – has been named the highest trending travel spot for this year by the users of TripAdvisor.

Ishigaki has seen a major rise in traveler numbers in recent years for its sandy beaches, Rhizophora mangle forests and first diving spots. The travel website's high honour for 'destinations on the rise' visited the japanese island in its decide of the world's high trending destinations for 2018 for its annual Travellers' alternative awards.

The winners were set exploitation associate degree rule that measures the year-on-year increase in positive TripAdvisor ratings for restaurants, hotels and attractions, and the amount of destination bookings compared to previous years.

The Okinawa Prefecture – wherever locals even wear a vivid floral "kariyushi" shirt like the acknowledgment in Hawaii – is ready to surpass the USA state in terms of traveler numbers. The island cluster welcome a record eight.77 million folks in 2016, a 10.5 per cent year-on-year increase, compared to the eight.93 million tourists in Hawaii (a two.9 per cent rise).

Rebecca Hallett, Japan knowledgeable at vade mecum publisher Rough Guides, said: "It should not return as a surprise that Ishigaki could be a trending travel spot. Japanese travellers are heading there for fine-sand beaches and fancy-fish recognizing for years.

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"The loss of the ferry link many years back suggests that you've got to fly, that puts plenty of international travellers off. It's worthwhile, though, for the slow-paced tropical paradise you discover. If obtaining off from it all here is not hardcore enough for you (it's over four hundred kilometres south of the most Okinawan island, itself over one,500 kilometres from Tokyo), you'll be able to take a ferry to at least one of the Yaeyama Islands' even additional remote and mysterious islands, like wild Iriomote or little, distant Yonaguni."

Other notable entries on the list embrace 2 African destinations. Nairobi, that came in third place, is lauded by TripAdvisor as associate degree "energetic, trendy town that is a desirable introduction to each life and nightlife". Casablanca comes in tenth, noted for its thriving culture scene and its art movement villas that are regenerate as galleries and museums.

The 10 high trending destinations for 2018 (according to TripAdvisor)

1. Ishigaki (Japan)
2. Kapaa (Hawaii)
3. capital of Kenya (Kenya)
4. provincial capital (Canada)
5. port (Poland)
6. San Jose (Costa Rica)
7. capital (Latvia)
8. Rovinj (Croatia)
9. Nerja (Spain)
10. Casablanca (Morocco)