The end of the year brings with it an avalanche of “best of” lists and trend prognostications. And of course, we are not immune to this fundamental human desire to look ahead to what’s ahead — and reflect on what has been. As the year-end begins to near, there’s one view that always offers a snapshot of how trends and topics are shaping cultures around the world: the Top Ten most popular articles on each continent for 2017.

Africa

While the sample size is not as large as other areas, readers in Africa were interested in content marketing more than any of their peers. Our article, “Thirty content marketing tips for independent hotels,” was in the top five for African readers.

Similarly to other areas, our travel agent tipsheet and analysis of the best APIs for travel startups both featured prominently on the list. Here’s the full Top Ten for Africa:

1. Top 20 things every travel agent should do right now online and offline
2. How many hotels are there anyways? Booking keeps adding them
3. 30 content marketing tips for independent hotels and hotel groups
4. Top ten technologies for the modern hotel room
5. Free APIs that travel startups should consider when building a travel startup
6. The 10 juiciest confessions from hotel employees venting on Reddit
7. Fifteen of the best social media campaigns in travel so far
8. A brief history of travel technology from its evolution to looking at the future
9. What are the three big technology issues for the hotel industry?
10. How to crack the booking.com algorithm 

Americas

The Americas, which includes both North and South America, have a clear penchant for a touch of drama and opinion. Among the top articles were confessions from hotel employees, a company in turmoil, a small B&B manifesto-of-sorts, and a controversial evolution of a business model.

Tips and tricks were also popular, as always. Travel agents and startups were interested in two of our most popular articles of the year. And marketers were eager to learn how to best leverage metasearch in their channel mix. Here are the top ten articles for the Americas in 2017:

1. The 10 juiciest confessions from hotel employees venting on Reddit
2. How many hotels are there anyways? Booking keeps adding them
3. Top 20 things every travel agent should do right now online and offline
4. Kayak pairs one-way flights into hacker fares
5. B&Bs: Don’t let Airbnb eat your lunch
6. Free APIs that travel startups should consider when building a travel startup
7. Sunflight: Choose your airline seat based on what side the sun will be on
8. Five questions to help marketers solve the metasearch dilemma
9. Edreams Odigeo suspends share trading
10. Homeaway adjusts its rental commissions, adds traveler fee

Asia

The travel agent article was also popular in Asia — we’re planning to update the article for 2018! Other stories popular in Asia were related to startups with an interest in the region, as well as some of our deeper analysis of consumer behavior and the benefits of booking on OTAs.

1. Top 20 things every travel agent should do right now online and offline
2. Free APIs that travel startups should consider when building a travel startup
3. How many hotels are there anyways? Booking keeps adding them
4. Oyo Rooms raises $25 million for budget hotel platform
5. Why do consumers prefer booking with online travel agencies?
6. 30 content marketing tips for independent hotels and hotel groups
7. Fifteen of the best social media campaigns in travel so far
8. Why OTA commissions are actually a good deal
9. The 10 juiciest confessions from hotel employees venting on Reddit
10. Hotelbeds Group completes GTA deal

Europe

Rounding out our analysis based on broad geographies is Europe. Readers here enjoyed some of the same articles as those elsewhere, as well as those with topics of regional relevance. Specifically, developments from two of the prominent names in Europe-based airlines: Ryanair and British Airways.

1. Free APIs that travel startups should consider when building a travel startup
2. Top 20 things every travel agent should do right now online and offline
3. How many hotels are there anyways? Booking keeps adding them
4. British Airways imposes surcharge for non-NDC
5. Why OTA commissions are actually a good deal
6. Ryanair suspends packages web booking service
7. The 10 juiciest confessions from hotel employees venting on Reddit
8. Priceline Group buys Momondo for $550 million
9. B&Bs: Don’t let Airbnb eat your lunch
10. Comparing the performance of metasearch giants for hotels