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Over the past few weeks, Turkey has been in the news a lot. Mostly these stories have revolved around their currency and trade war with the United States, but more and more stories are highlighting the rise in tourism due to attractive pricing. Virtuoso recently wrapped up their Virtuoso week in Las Vegas, and some of the data they released highlighted an increased interest in Middle Eastern Travel, with Turkey and Egypt seeing the biggest increases year over year in bookings made by U.S. Travelers.
Another interesting thing to note is while most Hotel pricing seems to be pegged to the Dollar and Euro, the biggest advantage you’ll have is once you’re on the ground with local markets, restaurants, and shops providing the biggest discount due to currency devaluation.
What is the The Virtuoso Hot 10?
The countries that have seen the largest percentage of growth in year-over-year bookings among U.S. travelers.
- Turkey (+310%)
- Egypt (+264%)
- Morocco (+144%)
- India (+128%)
- Cayman Islands (+124%)
- Brazil (+92%)
- Israel (+88%)
- Switzerland (+82%)
- Indonesia (+76%)
- Greece (+74%)
The Virtuoso Top Ten. Israel made the both lists.
The most popular fall and holiday travel destinations for Americans based on future bookings.
- Italy
- France
- South Africa
- Israel
- Germany
- Japan.
- Greece
- United States
- New Zealand
- Switzerland
It’s interesting to note that the only Asian country to make the Top Ten list was Japan, but Indonesia made the Hot 10 list. How does this list stack up to the travel I’m putting together?
Currently I have trips planned to Brazil in November, Bali in early 2019, Israel in the spring of 2019, and an Italian/Greece trip in the fall of 2019. All 5 of those destinations are listed on the Top 10 and Hot 10 lists which I suppose is both good and bad. My reviews will hopefully be helpful to those looking to take their own trips, but I may run into heavier crowds.
Looking to book with Virtuoso? Use one of our trusted advisors to personalize your trip
We’ve worked with both Jenny and Josh to take wonderful trips around the world, and with their added touch, not only do you get incredible built in Virtuoso perks like upgrades and full breakfast, but the added benefit of their relationship with hotel management around the world.
Opinions, reviews, analyses & recommendations are the author’s alone, and have not been reviewed, endorsed or approved by any of these entities.
Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card
Welcome Offer
$300 Chase Travel℠ Credit + Earn 60,000 bonus points after you spend $4,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening.
Annual Fee
$95
Points Earned
Transferrable Chase Ultimate Rewards
- $300 Chase Travel℠ Credit + Earn 60,000 bonus points after you spend $4,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening.
- That’s worth $750 when redeemed through Chase Travel℠. Plus, get up to $300 in statement credits on Chase Travel℠ purchases within your first year
- 5x on all travel purchased through Chase Travel℠
- 3x on dining, including eligible delivery services for takeout & dining out
- 3x on select streaming services
- 3x on online grocery purchases
- (excluding Target, Walmart and wholesale clubs)
- $50 Annual Chase Travel Hotel Credit via Chase Travel℠
- The begins immediately for new cardmembers and after your account anniversary for existing cardmembers
- 2x on all other travel
- 10% Anniversary Bonus
- Every year you keep the card, your total spend will yield a 10% points bonus. If you spend $10k in a year, you’ll get 1k bonus points
- Chase Sapphire Preferred continues to redeem at 1.25c in the Chase Travel℠ and the slew of other benefits remain in tact including Auto Rental Collision Damage Waiver ( primary ), purchase protections, etc.
- Points are transferrable to 14 Ultimate Rewards partners
- Redeem in Chase Travel℠ for 1.25 cents per point
- No foreign transaction fees
- Suite of Travel and Purchase Coverage
- Auto Rental Collision Damage Waiver is my favorite
- Get complimentary access to DashPass which unlocks $0 delivery fees and lower service fees for a minimum of one year when you activate by December 31, 2027.
- $95 Annual Fee
We keep an up to date spreadsheet that lists the best ever offers: You can find that spreadsheet here.
Historically 80k is a very, very good offer and hit in both 2022 and 2023. In 2021, we saw the offer hit an all time high of 100k. Who knows if that will ever come back.
Main Cast:
Cards that earn flexible points and should be used on the bulk of your purchases.
Supporting Cast:
Cards that earn fixed points in the currency of the airline/hotel and can not be transferred at attractive rates. These cards yield benefits that make it worth keeping, but not necessarily worth putting a lot of your everyday spend on.
The Chase Sapphire Preferred® is exceptional starter card and offers transferrable Ultimate Rewards, and pairs well with other Chase cards.
If you carry this card alongside Chase’s cashback cards like the Chase Freedom Flex® and Chase Freedom Unlimited® or the business versions: Ink Business Cash® , Ink Business Unlimited® you can combine the points into Preferred account and transfer into hotel and airline partners
Annual fee is quite low at $95 a year + you get a 10% anniversary bonus on points + $50 hotel credit in Chase travel.
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