RateHawk Reveals Top Easter Destinations Signaling Interest Increase In Asia and South Africa For 2026
The upcoming Easter holidays highlight the continuous growth of interest among European travelers in long-haul destinations across Asia and Africa, driven by visa-free policy and the desire to explore less-discovered locations. RateHawk, a B2B platform for booking accommodation, flights, and transfers, reports Easter Travel Trends among European travel agents and their clients in hotel bookings for the beginning of April 2026, demonstrating great industry resilience.
The top 10 outbound destinations among European travel agents’ clients are Japan, the USA, Thailand, Turkey, Egypt, China, Morocco, South Korea, South Africa and Mexico. The average transaction value for accommodation bookings is €1222, with an average length of stay of three nights.
Japan has continued to grow as a destination for its third consecutive year. Ratehawk has seen a 40% increase in bookings versus the previous year. Traditionally, travelers choose Tokyo, Osaka and Kyoto for the ‘sakura trip’ season, which begins just during the Easter holidays this year.
According to RateHawk, another notable trend for Asian destinations is the rapid growth in travel to China and South Korea, which have seen year-on-year increases of 66% and 98%, respectively. Since the end of 2023, China has begun implementing visa-free entry policies, now allowing citizens from 79 European and American countries to visit for up to 30 days without a visa. Also South Korea prolonged its visa-free entry and reported on growing air connections internationally above pre-pandemic levels. Both China and South Korea offer a great alternative, with the cherry blossom season, to more crowded spots in Japan.
Another destination experiencing growing interest among RateHawk’s travel partners is South Africa. According to RateHawk, bookings to the country for Easter holidays have more than doubled year-over-year, making it the fastest-growing destination of 2026. Several European airlines, including Air France and Lufthansa, have already expanded their flight programs, connecting key European hubs such as Paris and Frankfurt with Cape Town.
“Despite instability in the Middle East affecting demand during the Easter break, travellers are still opting for long-haul trips using temporary alternative routes. It shows how resilient the industry is, giving confidence that affected regions will bounce back swiftly,” says Astrid Kastberg, Managing Director at RateHawk. “We also see that demand is influenced by social media and user-generated content — countries such as China, South Korea, and South Africa are trending on TikTok with millions of posts and are experiencing a surge in Google Search queries, indicating steadily growing interest. We remain committed to supporting travel agents by helping them find the right accommodation in any destination — whether short-haul or long-haul — as our portfolio of 3.2 million properties covers more than 200 destinations worldwide.”
Astrid Kastberg adds: “At the same time, demand for domestic getaways and staycations within Europe stays strong, with Italy, Spain, France, the UK and Germany ranking among the top five domestic destinations for European travelers booking their trips with travel agents”.
Top 5 Easter destinations by country
United Kingdom:
1. United States of America
2. Japan
3. Italy
4. Spain
5. Turkie
Germany:
1. Japan
2. United States of America
3. Spain
4. Italy
5. Portugal
Italy:
1. Japan
2. United States of America
3. France
4. Spain
5. United Kingdom
Spain:
1. Japan
2. Italy
3. United States of America
4. France
5. Portugal
France:
1. Japan
2. Italy
3. United States of America
4. United Kingdom
5. Morocco
Greece:
1. Japan
2. Italy
3. South Korea
4. United States of America
5. Egypt