Ljs: Top trips for 2011

The rise of voluntourism, the opening up of the Middle East and the death of the staycation ? Here are the 10 big travel trends for the coming year

2010 was a distinctly tricky year for UK holidaymakers. Airline staff queued up to go on strike, collapsed travel companies left clients stranded around the world, and holiday bookings wobbled as consumer confidence dipped. Mother Nature intervened in April as Iceland's Eyjafjallaj�kull volcano spewed its innards across a considerable chunk of the northern hemisphere, costing the airline industry $1.7bn in lost revenue. Then, predictably, Britain's transport system froze to a standstill as the snow arrived in December.

But there are reasons to be cheerful in 2011. TripAdvisor's annual Travel Trends survey ? which sampled 6,000 users ? has revealed that Brits are hesitantly positive about their travelling prospects, with one in 10 planning to holiday more often this year. The Great British "staycation" also looks to be on the wane, with just 38% of those surveyed planning to stay at home for their holiday compared with 45% last year. Voluntourism and adventure travel are set to rise in popularity, our appetite for the Middle East is expected to grow apace with new flights to the region, and long-haul travel is fighting its way back against the dominance of European city breaks and mid-haul sun-seeking.

1. EasyJet enters Jordan

Spearheaded by the emergence of Dubai as one of the world's busiest flight hubs (the airport's capacity surpassed JFK last September), and the World Travel & Tourism Council's prediction that the region's tourist growth will outstrip any other in 2011, British holidaymakers are expected to pour into the Middle East. Having entered the region with its first flights to Tel Aviv in 2009, easyJet is adding Jordan to its portfolio, with flights into Amman scheduled to begin in March, from a lead-in price of �105.98 return. With midsummer temperatures regularly tipping over 40C, aim for a visit during spring or autumn.
Details Flights begin on 27 March (easyjet.com)

2. Trailblazing in Nepal

A recent TUI study reported British travellers are more likely to book an adventure travel trip over the next three years. For those looking to sate their inner explorer this year, a groundbreaking new trail in Nepal should do the job. Australian Robin Boustead has spent 152 days traversing a series of routes winding beneath the world's highest peaks over the past few years, meticulously mapping the Great Himalayan Trail (thegreathimalayatrail.org) ? the first continuous trail across the Nepalese Himalayan arc from Kanchenjunga on the eastern border, through the foothills of Everest, concluding on the Tibetan border in the west. The inaugural public expedition, led by Boustead himself, begins in February and will cost an eye-watering �20,500 for the entire trip. But World Expeditions has broken the trail down into a handful of sections that can be "hopped" on to from �2,350 for 18 days.
Details worldexpeditions.co.uk

3. Airbnb in Asia

Airbnb.com, the peer-to-peer B&B network that invites tourists into locals' spare bedrooms and apartments, grew phenomenally last year and has set its sights on Asia in 2011. While the network ? and similar networks such as iStopOver and Crashpadder ? has developed huge bases in Europe and North America (the site boasts more than 4,000 listings in New York), a promotional drive has seen the company's portfolio in Asia increase significantly. Beijing, Bangkok and Seoul have seen notable additions, but Shanghai (pictured)? helped by its large expat community ? is leading the pack with a tenfold increase in the second half of last year, including sleek modern apartments in the French Concession, where the majority of the new additions are clustered.
Details Shanghai rooms from �6.40 per night (airbnb.com)

4. Hi-tech adventures in Portland

Near Field Communications (NFC) is something many Londoners use every day ? it's the technology that lets you enter the tube system via an Oyster card ? and industry insiders expect it to have a significant impact on air travel, with mobile phones being used as boarding cards. But a Google experiment in Portland, Oregon, is seeing the technology rolled out to hundreds of caf�s and restaurants in the city in the form of stickers. Visitors will soon be able to hold their phone up to a sticker in the window of an establishment and have all of its reviews transmitted on to their display.
Details tinyurl.com/NFCportland

5. Overland from Ecuador to Colombia

Tourism has continued to grow year on year in Colombia, with the high-end crowd setting its sights on new boutique hotels in Bogot� and Medell�n ? luxury specialists Cox & Kings has earmarked the country as one of its most in-demand destinations of 2011. Provincial travel in the country, however, has stuttered due to heightened tensions with neighbouring Venezuela and Ecuador. But after a two-year hiatus due to Foreign Office advice, Dragoman Overland is returning to Colombia with an epic trip across the country. The 19-day Andean and Caribbean Trails begins in the Ecuadorian capital of Quito before heading into the market town of Otavalo and then across the border into Colombia. The route takes in the old town of Popay�n and the Purac� National Park in the south before rising up through Andean coffee plantations and the cloud forests of the Sierra Nevada foothills, then down on to the unspoilt beaches of the Tayrona National Park before finishing in the walled city of Cartagena (pictured).
Details Eight departures in 2011 from 1 June, �650 plus a kitty of �300 (dragoman.com)

6. Mid-haul Libya

In 2011 short-to-medium-haul winter-sun destinations outside the eurozone, such as Turkey (where easyJet is launching two flights a week into Izmir from May) and Egypt, are predicted to remain strong, with a fringe of more adventurous travellers trying out more unusual ? but equally accessible ? destinations. Libya is the last north African country to open up to European tourism and has seen steady rises in visitor numbers since the recent relaxation of visa requirements, making it possible for visitors to obtain visas at the point of entry. According to the Lonely Planet Thorn Tree travel forum, Libya is targeting 1.5 million visitors a year under its 2008-12 tourism programme.
Details Explore (0845 013 1537, explore.co.uk) features three itineraries, with a five-day tour of Tripoli, ancient Sabratha and Leptis Magna from �826pp including flights

7. Turin city break

With the continuous growth of city-break tourism expected to be one of the key drivers in the recovery of European tourism as a whole, Brits are expected to venture beyond the usual suspects for a value-for-money urban weekend in 2011. Turin will be a good bet, with the city acting as the focal point for a line-up of events celebrating the 150th anniversary of Italian unification (Turin was the newly united Italy's first capital from 1861-64). The recently derelict Officine Grandi Riparazioni ? a vast 19th-century locomotive factory in the heart of the city ? will house large temporary interactive "laboratory exhibitions", and more than 300 Italian masterpieces (including works by Caravaggio, Giotto, Botticelli and Da Vinci) will be on show at the newly restored Venaria Reale, a 17th-century hunting palace on the fringes of the city.
Details Ryanair (ryanair.com) flies to Turin from Stansted, Edinburgh and East Midlands from �37.98 return. Visit eng.italia150.it

8. Rugby (and food) in New Zealand

With 66% of Brits planning to travel long haul next year, according to TripAdvisor, 25,000 are expected to head to New Zealand for this autumn's Rugby World Cup. As part of the biggest tournament in the country's history, hundreds of events are being staged, including performances by Kiri Te Kanawa in Auckland and the transformation of Cathedral Square in Christchurch into a mini rugby pitch. There will be farmers' markets, new wild-food menus at hundreds of restaurants on the South Island, oyster festivals, and a wine festival bringing together more than 50 wineries in the Marlborough region.
Details Rugby World Cup, 9 September to 23 October (nz2011.govt.nz). England Rugby Travel (0844 788 5000, englandrugbytravel.com), Gullivers Sports Travel (01684 878 590, gulliverstravel.co.uk) and Thomas Cook Sport (0844 800 9900, thomascooksport.com) are offering travel-plus-ticket packages

9. Making an eco village in Sierra Leone

Voluntourism is expected to continue to be one of the fastest-growing markets in global tourism, and a brand-new venture on a remote Sierra Leone beach is one of the most intriguing projects. As the country gears up for its 50th anniversary of political freedom in April, the John Obey beach community is the newest undertaking by Tribewanted ? the social experiment that saw hundreds of volunteers build a sustainable eco resort from scratch in Fiji over the past three years. The first-footers arrived in October, and work is already under way, with locals and "tribe members" working together to build the first mud houses in the new eco village. The perks? Downtime is spent exploring the forests, fishing with locals, and lounging on some of Africa's most untouched beaches.
Details A week with Tribewanted Sierra Leone costs �295 (sierraleone.tribewanted.com)

10. Tallinn for culture, Kopaonik for budget skiing

Long famed ? and unfairly so ? as a cheap destination for lager-swilling Brits on tour, the Estonian capital is taking its responsibilities as European Capital of Culture very seriously. Hundreds of events are planned for 2011, with a different festival each month, including the Old Town festival in June, an opera festival in August and a film festival in November. July will see the opening of the new Estonian Maritime Museum, in vast, renovated sea-plane hangars on the city's western coast. Elsewhere in eastern Europe, Skyscanner reports a 130% rise in winter searches for Serbia as value-seeking skiiers opt for the increasingly popular resort of Kopaonik (pictured).
Details easyJet (easyjet.com) flies to Tallinn from Stansted and Liverpool from �55.98 return. Wizz Air (wizzair.com) flies to Belgrade, 2.5 hours' drive from Kopaonik, from Luton from �67.98 return. For capital of culture events, visit tallinn2011.ee