Forget Santorini , Rome and Barcelona . Younger travellers are heading to more off-beat hotspots on their summer travels. Social media site Snapchat has crunched the data about where people are posting from, with some surprising results.
READ MORE: Eurostar train from London to Paris: Everything to know The cultural city of Valencia in Spain, seaside town St Julian's in Malta and Portuguese Atlantic islands The Azores came up top as popular places youngsters are holidaying. Outside of Europe, Snap Map, as it's called has seen young travellers venturing to other continents to escape tourist queues, such as Marrakesh in Morocco, and Santa Cruz in Bolivia. Noumea in New Caledonia, which is still recovering from riots which shut off tourism, was also on the list.
Snap Map is an interactive map you can use to share your location with friends. READ MORE: The hotspot dupes in Paris that are way less crowded than classic tourist attractions There's also an option to share where you are with people you don't know, so it creates an unofficial guide of the most popular destinations..
Most Snapchat users are between 18 and 24 years-old. Varshini Satish, Talent Partnerships Lead, Snap Inc, says: "From local Spanish towns to remote Portuguese islands, Snapchatters really know how to highlight the must-see destinations across the world and put them on the map. "We love that Snapchat's heat map function on the Snap Map can be used as a digital passport, guiding our community of Snapchatters to discover their next unforgettable getaway.
We're excited to see which destinations will be uncovered this year." READ MORE: Everything to know before you visit China, as it becomes increasingly popular with Aussies Meanwhile, travellers heading to Italy may have to budget for even more costs, with officials currently considering changes to the tourism tax. According to local newspaper La Repubblica , the government is considering proposals to overhaul the daily tourist levy for overnight visitors.
Unlike the current tourist tax, the new proposed charge could be extended to cover all hotels in Italy. This means towns and villages that aren't provincial capitals, tourist cities or cities of art could also charge holidaymakers a tourist tax..
