Lonely Planet reveals top travel picks for 2021: Jordan named world's virtually all welcoming place
19 November, 2020
Each year, travel authorities Lonely Planet pick out their top destinations for the year ahead. This season, the Covid-19 global crisis has generally halted international travel, top rated the guidebook publishers to create its 2021 list a little different.
In a year when travel was paused, other issues were highlighted. The chat around diversity shifted, environmental concerns were front and centre and decades-old problems such as for example overtourism changed overnight.
So that you can reflect this, Lonely Planet's 2021 Best in Travel spotlights not merely destinations, but also persons, companies and communities transforming the travel industry.
In the ultimate shortlist of winners, the center East is well-represented.
Jordan is the world's most welcoming place
Amman calls for the award for the Most Welcoming Destination by Lonely Planet. The town was praised because of its nice hospitality and friendly locals.
“In Jordan, Ahlan wa sahlan (welcome) isn't a clear greeting. Stemming culturally from Levantine and Bedouin traditions, geniality and generosity happen to be ingrained in to the Middle Eastern welcome, with the posting of drink and food at its center,” say the travel professionals.
Locally category, Syrian refugee Hesham Moadamani is named Top Storyteller. Using his personal experience, he guides travellers around Berlin in his do the job for Refugee Tone of voice Tours, drawing parallels between conflict in his house country and the history of migration in Germany.
One of the youngest black voices in travel
Gabby Beckford is named the Emerging Voice on Lonely Planet's Diversity category. The Virginian-raised traveller calls Dubai her favourite city after earning a scholarship and spending her junior year of college studying in the emirate.
Since that time, she’s pivoted her personal blog page to a travel learning resource, made to empower young persons hoping to start to see the globe, and is among the youngest black voices in travel and leisure.
From the UK, Soraya Abdel-Hadi is awarded first place in the Sustainable Storyteller category. The tour lead has previously resided in the UAE and in Morocco and aims to create travellers more mindful, regardless if they can’t venture definately not home.
Recognising that travel includes a footprint, Abdel-Hadi uses her stations to encourage people to create options that champion sustainability.
In January, Lonely Planet will announce another list - this time ranking readers’ nominations of their favourite persons and places shaping the continuing future of travel. Voting is currently available on the Lonely Planet website.
The 2021 list also features 12 destinations around the world and you can see these listed in the gallery above.
From Rwanda’s mountain gorilla conservation program to a company offering perspective-altering treks through Ethiopia’s landscapes and a group offering accessible tours in 30 destinations, this is actually the complete list of the places, persons and initiatives that Lonely World thinks can make travel in 2021 a year like zero other.
Lonely Planet’s 2021 Finest in Travel
Sustainability winners
- Storyteller: Soraya Abdel-Hadi
- Walk: Le Vie di Dante (Roads of Dante)
- Wildlife programme: Rwanda
- Emerging destination: Antigua & Barbuda
- Train journey: Rocky Mountaineer
- Food destination: Greece
- Cycling way: Virginia Mountain Bike Trail
- Sustainable accommodation: Grootberg Lodge, Namibia
- Sustainable islands: Palau
- Sustainable city: Gothenburg, Sweden
Diversity winners
- Emerging voice: Gabby Beckford
- Accessible destination: Costa Rica
- Multi-generational: El Hierro, Spain
- Indigenous food: Hiakai, Latest Zealand
- Inclusive storyteller: Jeff Jenkins, Chubby Diaries
- Inclusive tours: Wheels of the World
- LGBTIQ storyteller: Karl Krause and Daan Colijn, Handful of Men
- Under-explored background: Gullah Islands, USA
- Cultural diversity: San Diego, USA
- Welcoming destination: Amman, Jordan
- Community winners
Tour: Invisible Cities, UK
- Accommodation: Kazakhstan
- Immersion: Faroe Islands
- Revitalisation: Medellin, Colombia
- Trekking: Tesfa Tours, Ethiopia
- Restoration: Australia
- Storyteller: Hesham Moadamani, Refugee Voices Tours
- Small company: Footprints Cafe, Cambodia
- Tourism task: Burren Ecotourism Network, Ireland
- Expat storyteller: Georgette Jupe, Girl In Florence
Source: www.thenationalnews.com
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