From The New York Times and Travel + Leisure, to Architectural Digest and Eater, many publications like to make predictions of the “hot” places to travel. Here’s my list — with a twist. It’s based not on new hotel openings and blockbuster museum shows, but on destinations that exemplify various issues the industry is contending with. They’re all wonderful places to visit in their own right, but they’re “hot spots” in a different sense of the word.

In early August, I reported on the results of a survey of wealthy U.S. consumers I conducted in partnership with Chandler Mount and his Affluent Consumer Research Company. Among our key findings: Demand for luxury travel was taking off, consumers were splashing out for bigger and further-flung trips, and younger folks use a different set of yardsticks to gauge their satisfaction with a travel brand.