The Most Popular Travel Spots by Decade

It was only in the past century that leisure travel became available to the masses and the vacation spot du jour changed as often as the height of hemlines. For travel inspiration today, why not look to the past? Here are some of the most popular travel spots of the past ten decades.

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Old painting of the Catskills area of New York

Internet Archive Book Images/Wikimedia Commons

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1920s: Catskills, New York

From the 1920s, the Catskills saw a rise in hotels, summer camps and bungalow colonies. The area was especially popular with Jewish people and many Jewish entertainers paid their dues here during the vacation season, leading to the nickname ‘The Borscht Belt’.

HRNet/Wikimedia Commons

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1920s: Paris, France

In Paris, the Roaring Twenties were known as the "Années Folies", or the "crazy years". Writers and painters flocked to the city’s cafes while Josephine Baker caused a sensation at the Folies Bergère.

OpenClipArt/Wikimedia Commons

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1930s: Orient Express, Europe

With three different routes across Europe, the Orient Express was at its most popular in the 1930s and became synonymous with luxury travel. It was also during this decade that Agatha Christie wrote one of her most famous novels, Murder on the Orient Express.

Darron Birgenheier/Wikimedia Commons

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1930s: Reno, Nevada

Before Vegas there was Reno, which became popular in the 1930s when the state of Nevada legalized gambling. Reno also had extremely liberal divorce laws at the time, making it the place to go for couples who wanted to call it quits.

Wikimedia Commons

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1940s: Atlantic City, New Jersey

Atlantic City was the place to be in the 1940s. The casinos didn’t exist yet – gambling was legalized here only in the 1970s – but visitors came for the city’s famed nightclubs and beaches.

International Bridge at Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario

US Army Corps of Engineers Digital Visual Library

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1940s: Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario

Canada’s economy boomed during World War II, as did its tourism industry. One popular destination was Sault Ste. Marie, which was a gateway to Ontario's wilderness.

gildemax/Wikimedia Commons

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1950s: Havana, Cuba

In the 1950s, Havana was the Caribbean playground of the rich, famous and infamous. Its decadent nightclubs and casinos – and the accompanying organized crime – earned the city the nickname "the Latin American Las Vegas".

Comisión Mexicana de Filmaciones/Wikimedia Commons

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1950s: Acapulco, Mexico

Acapulco’s heyday was in the 1950s, when Hollywood’s elite, including Elizabeth Taylor, Eddie Fisher and Frank Sinatra, would come here for their exotic seaside holidays. The city was an artist’s haven too and Diego Rivera created a stunning mosaic mural while living here in the late 1950s.

Heretiq/Wikimedia Commons

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1960s: Beirut, Lebanon

During the 1960s, Beirut was known as "the Paris of the Middle East". Its five-star resorts played hosts to the jet set and stars like Omar Sharif.

calflier001/Wikimedia Commons

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1960s: Marrakesh, Morocco

Graham Nash wrote the Crosby, Stills and Nash hit "Marrakesh Express" after a train trip from Casablanca to Marrakesh in the mid-1960s. Marrakesh was a firm favourite with the hippie era’s trendiest personalities, including The Beatles and The Rolling Stones.

Rémi Kaupp, CC-BY-SA, Wikimedia Commons

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1970s: Haiti

Haiti became a Caribbean tourism hotspot in the 1970s. It was a playground for the rich and famous, including Mick Jagger, Aristotle Onassis and Jackie Kennedy Onassis.

Behrooz Rezvani/Wikimedia Commons

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1970s: Tehran, Iran

For most of the 1970s, until the Iranian Revolution, Tehran was a liberal, sophisticated city. Travellers flocked here to enjoy a taste of the exotic and the glamour associated with the Shah and his wife, Farah Pahlavi.

TedQuackenbush/Wikimedia Commons

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1980s: New York, New York

New York has always been a popular destination but for a wild night on the town, few eras could beat the 1980s. The city’s top nightclubs played host to artists and musicians like Andy Warhol, Keith Haring, Jean-Michel Basquiat, Grace Jones, Deborah Harry and Madonna.

Petra/Wikimedia Commons

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1980s: Australia

A hit song called "Down Under" and a movie about a crocodile hunter in the Outback put Australia on the map in the 1980s. A series of commercials by Crocodile Dundee star Paul Hogan helped convince a growing number of tourists to come and discover the joys of a shrimp on the barbie.

Alvesgaspar/Wikimedia Commons

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1990s: Moscow, Russia

As the Iron Curtain lifted in the early 1990s, tourists couldn’t resist travelling to Moscow to get a first glimpse of a changing society. At the time, it was said that the longest lines in the city were to see Lenin’s Tomb and to get a meal at the newly opened McDonald’s.

D. Gordon E. Robertson/Wikimedia Commons

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1990s: South Africa

The advent of democracy, the presidency of Nelson Mandela and the lifting of international boycotts meant that by the mid-1990s, South Africa was one of the hottest tourism tickets in town.

Richard Schneider/Wikimedia Commons

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2000s: Dubai, United Arab Emirates

Dubai became one of the world’s most popular destinations by the early 2000s. New developments such as the Burj Al Arab and the Palm Islands as well as a more liberal attitude to tourists turned the former fishing village into a glitzy shopping mecca.

Sebasiddi/Wikimedia Commons

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2000s: Buenos Aires, Argentina

An economic crisis in the early 2000s turned out to be a godsend for Argentina’s tourism industry. Suddenly the country became dirt cheap to visit and everyone flocked to Buenos Aires, the "Paris of South America".

Christophe Meneboeuf/Wikimedia Commons

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2010s: China

China’s rapid development has brought a massive influx of visitors to the country in the past decade. It is now the world’s fourth most visited country, with Beijing, Shanghai and Hong Kong the country’s top destinations.

Inukshuk at English Bay in Vancouver, BC

Christina Chan/Wikimedia Commons

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Today: Vancouver, British Columbia

Canada is at the top of the lists of countries to visit in 2017 according to publications like Lonely Planet and the New York Times. In the past few years, Vancouver has shattered one tourism record after another, making it the country’s top destination.