Ha Long Bay is seen from Thien Cung cave

In an article themed “Where will U.S. travelers explore in 2019? Top trends, destinations and anniversaries” published on USA TODAY, USTOA mentioned Italy as the most popular destination for travelers in 2019. 

“The top 10 hot destinations for the coming year also included Iceland, which ranked second. It was followed by Japan, Vietnam, Australia, France, Spain, Colombia, Cambodia and Portugal,” it said. 
The ranking was based on a recent survey conducted by PriceWaterhouseCoopers, the tour operator members of the USTOA. 
Vietnam has also entered the list of the top 10 off-the-beaten path or emerging destinations by USTOA members. Iceland again ranked first and Cambodia came in second. Other destinations are Croatia, Colombia, Portugal, Bhutan, Bolivia, Myanmar and Ethiopia. 
In a recent Booking.com survey, 45 percent of 21,500 global travelers said they want to be more adventurous in their choice of destinations in 2019 than they were in 2018.
About 82 percent of USTOA’s members are offering art and culture travel experiences. The art and culture category was the highest ranked experiential tour type last year based on sales volume.  
In 2018, Vietnam is estimated to serve some 15.5 million-15.6 million foreign tourists and 80 million domestic travellers, generating 620 trillion VND (26.66 billion USD) in tourism revenue.
Also this year, the country has won a series of international awards, recognising it as a safe and friendly destination. Vietnam was named the “Asia’s Leading Destination” for the first time at the 2018 World Travel Awards in Hong Kong this September. Two months later, it was honoured with the title of “Asia’s best golf destination in 2018” at the Golf World Travel Awards.
In 2019, Vietnam expects to welcome some 103 million visitors, including around 18 million foreigners and 85 million domestic travellers, up 15 percent and 6 percent, respectively, from 2018.