Google’s Year-End “Zeitgeist” top-ten travel destinations

This year, the web-search engine Google has included the Top Ten Destinations of 2002 as part of its annual Year-End Zetigeist. Here’s the rundown:

1. Paris
2. Canada
3. New York
4. India
5. Las Vegas
6. Australia
7. Hawaii
8. Japan
9. Cuba
10. London

The only surprises I see here are Canada and India (which came in ahead of tourist favorites such as Las Vegas, London and Rome) — as well as Cuba, which no doubt will see lots more search exposure in the future. I notice that African and South American destinations are missing (which probably means that destinations there hold lots of promise for “off-the-beaten-path” seekers).

As for the Google Zeitgeist, it tracks “the year’s hottest trends based on more than 55 billion searches conducted over the past year by Google users from around the world,” and includes categories such as celebrities, brands, athletes, music, movies, news, video games, retailers, and television.