Climate Shifts Global Tourism, Wales Becomes Most Searched Vacation Spot
Wales recorded a 141% year-on-year increase in flight search interest for summer, the highest growth figure among destinations in the company’s global coolcation dataset.
This is according to Trip.com Group search data from January 2026, accessed via the Global Sustainable Tourism Council (GSTC).
The data tracked global flight searches from June to August 2026.
Trip.com Group, one of the world’s largest online travel platforms, reports a 74% year-on-year increase in overall searches for what it calls coolcation destinations since January 2026.
- Wales saw 141% year-on-year growth in flight searches for summer 2026, the highest of any destination globally in Trip.com Group’s coolcation dataset
- Overall, searches for cooler destinations surged 74% year-on-year since January 2026.
The Asian coolcation data, which covers both flight and hotel searches, shows a pattern driven significantly by domestic travel within China and Japan rather than international inbound tourism.
Inner Mongolia, an autonomous region of northern China bordering the Mongolian steppe, recorded 85% year-on-year growth.
Inner Mongolia is not a traditional international destination.
Its 85% surge is primarily Chinese domestic travelers from southern and eastern China, where cities including Shanghai, Guangzhou, and Chengdu increasingly record dangerous summer heat, seeking the cool grasslands of the north.
The same logic applies to Yunnan, a high-altitude province in southwestern China, at 43% that has long attracted domestic visitors for its cooler temperatures compared with China’s coastal lowlands.
Sapporo, the capital of Hokkaido in northern Japan, recorded 82% growth. Average summer temperatures in Sapporo hover around 26°C.
On Japan’s main Honshu island, Tokyo regularly exceeds 35°C in July and August, with heatwaves increasingly reaching 38 to 40°C.
The 82% Sapporo search surge is Japanese domestic and international demand for Japan’s coolest accessible city.
