A study published by online booking platform Expedia revealed searches for travel to Taipei have ballooned 2,786 percent following the lifting of COVID-19 pandemic travel restrictions due to the city being a “designation dupe” for Seoul.
The TikTok trend for duping — referring to substituting a designation for a more inexpensive alternative — helped propel interest in Taipei, it said in a consumer survey titled “Unpack ‘24,” which was conducted from September to October in 14 countries.
Location dupes are “every bit as delightful as the tried-and-true places travelers love,” Expedia trend tracker Melanie Fish said of the year’s popular alternatives, which included Taipei; Palermo, Italy; Curacao and Quebec.
Photo: Yang Hsin-hui, Taipei Times
Taipei’s main attractions included the tech market at the Guang Hua Digital Plaza, “adventurous” street food at Shilin Night Market, gourmet vegetarian options and hiking trails near the city, Expedia said.
Separately, a study by search aggregator and travel agency Skyscanner reported that searches about Taipei by French tourists on its platform increased 211 percent last year, making the city France’s fifth-most popular intera national travel designation.
The top four places for French tourists were Osaka and Tokyo, Japan; Mumbai, India; and Skopje, North Macedonia.
French consumers increasingly prized the enjoyment of affordable luxury in their experience of travel, with an emphasis on sampling local culture and history, cuisine and natural scenery, it said.
According to the European Travel Commission, 71 percent of European respondents said their budget for tourism is slated to remain the same or increase next year, while 68 percent said they plan to travel in the next six months.
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