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The numbers are in, and it was a strong year for tourism. Europe saw a 6% increase in visitors, while Paris and London retained their shared status as the world's most-visited cities. In the US, New York City had a record-breaking 50 million visitors last year, making it the leader nationwide. Which destinations in the US and across the globe were particularly popular with travelers in 2011? Here's a short round-up: USA Hawaii had its best month for tourism visits ever in January, attracting 643,616 visitors, a 7.7% increase from January 2011, thanks to plentiful value-priced vacation packages. In Maui, alone, visitor spending hit an all time high. This trend is part of a year-long surge in popularity for the Aloha State, which will become more accessible this June, when it gets more flights from the East Coast. Florida had a solid year in 2011, with about 86 million visitors, up about 4.4% from in 2010. Warm weather this winter has led to continued record bookings, suggesting that 2012 is off to a strong start, with lots of deals to Orlando and Miami. LATIN AMERICA Mexico had a record-breaking year for tourism, despite the sad headlines from its drug war. Visits were up 10%, to 27 million visitors, with many staying at the drama-free resorts towns of Cabo San Lucas, Cancun, Cozumel, Playa del Carmen, the Riviera Maya, and Tulum. Our southern neighbor has always been relatively affordable, but the U.S. dollar's exchange rate against the Mexican peso is unusually favorable, so there are plenty of resort deals. Traveler numbers are forecast to rise another 10% this year. Rio de janeiro had the highest hotel occupancy of any city in Latin America in 2011. The Brazilian city can't build hotels fast enough to anticipate the 2014 World Cup and the 2016 Summer Olympics. Expect plenty of deals, such as a current package for five-nights of hotel stays, plus airfare from New York City, from $1,519 per person. Note that this June, the city will celebrate the annual Festas Juninas (also known as Bonfire Festivals), with live music and fireworks on the city's main plazas. EUROPE The three European capitals with the highest growth rate for overnight stays were Berlin, Stockholm, and Ljubljana, according to a new study. Cologne had the best performance of Europe's second-tier cities, with a record-breaking 5 million overnight stays—up 10% from the previous year's total. Greece also had a record-breaking year, with 10% growth, rising to 14 million visitors. Despite a wave of strikes and protests over economic austerity measures, monuments, such as the Pantheon, were a particularly hot attraction for tourists, with visits up 17%. There was a 36% surge in people taking cruises around the Greek islands, a trend that's partly due to newly liberalised laws that have led to competition. In 2012, capital city Athens is one of our picks for the best budget travel destination. Croatia saw an 8% rise in visits to 11 million tourists. The central European country especially was popular for its beaches along the Adriatic Sea. ELSEWHERE Bermuda boomed, with 70,000 more tourists visiting in 2011 than the previous year, for an increase of 12%. With sun, sand as soft as sifted flour, and blue-green water, it's a fantastic destination, now with better air links to the US and plenty of amazing packages, such as three-nights-plus-air from New York City at rates from $640 a person. Iceland saw its tourism numbers rise 17.8%, and that level may be surpassed this year as a new low-cost airline, Wow, is debuting in summer and making the country a more attractive place to visit. The airline plans to launch in time for June 21, the summer solstice, when locals cheer the midnight sun on the longest day of the year. Cambodia witnessed a 15% gain in visitor numbers, rising to 2.9 million—15 times the number it drew a decade ago. Look for independently owned guesthouses because the major resort chains haven't built much here yet, though booking engines like AsiaRooms tout many deals. New Zealand had a record-breaking tourism year in 2011, with 2.6 million visitors. That gain was driven partly by a 2 percent rise in American tourists. Packages are making the film locations for the Lord of the Rings series attractive, such as one deal that includes airfare from L.A. and eight- nights lodging, from $1,799 a person. The Philippines also had a record-breaking year, reaching 3.9 million visitors, up 11% from a year earlier. The country is increasingly in the limelight because many Hollywood celebrities have been staying at its beach resorts. SEE MORE FROM BUDGET TRAVEL Top Budget Travel Destinations for 2012 U.S. State Department Names the Mexican Resort Towns It Thinks Are Safe To Go or Not to Go: 11 Places With a Bad Rap

Last spring we revealed the 15 Places Your Kids Should See Before 15—a collection of important American landmarks debated and researched by our editorial staff—and the feedback we received was interesting. Some of you agreed with us, while others sounded off on our facebook and twitter pages, leaving comments saying we'd forgotten to leave out seemingly obvious places, and urging us to reconsider our choices and adjust our list accordingly. Now it's your turn to set the record straight. This year, we're giving you—our readers and fans—the chance to choose. Visit our official nominations page from now until Tuesday, February 21st, and make a case for a place you think every kid should see before they turn 15—whether it's a national park, monument, famous landmark, museum, or another memorable spot from your own childhood. Choose a place that is fun, educational, and would be especially memorable for a young child. If the place you're thinking of is mentioned already, vote "thumbs up" to make it go higher in the list and leave a comment about why you were going to nominate it. Be careful not to nominate a place that has already won in the past—you can double–check by clicking on the previous winners link on our nominations page—as these places will not be counted in the final tally. So far, the popular choices seem to overwhelmingly be national parks, followed by monuments and museums. Entire cities—like St. Augustine, Florida, and Boston, Mass.,—were nominated this year, as were little known places like the National Cowboy Hall of Fame. Space travel seems to be of interest this year as well, with the U.S. Space and Rocket Center and Kennedy Space Center both bringing in lots of votes. Don't wait much longer to voice your opinion—voting ends on Tuesday, February 21st. We'll be posting the results in March, so don't forget to check back! MORE FROM BUDGET TRAVEL 5 Easy Overnight Adventures for Kids A Family Field Trip Around the World Best Reader Tips for Flying with an Infant

In this season of elections and campaigns in politics, Hollywood, American Idol–land, and beyond, the closest contest of all may well have been Budget Travel magazine’s 7th "Coolest Small Towns." It was so close, in fact, that we have declared a tie between Beaufort, N.C, and Hammondsport, N.Y. Hammondsport and Beaufort had been locked in fierce battle for much of the month-long vote, seesawing back and forth for the top spot. In the final hours of online voting, toward midnight of Jan. 31, the traffic was so intense that it crashed the Budget Travel website. The site had been programmed to cut off voting at the stroke of midnight and declare a winner, and at precisely 12 a.m. it did—picking Beaufort, which was technically ahead by a few votes at that time. However, since voters in several parts of the country had been locked out due to the site crash, Budget Travel editors decided it was impossible to determine which town would have won had all things been equal for all voters. "We have to declare a tie," said Lisa Schneider, the general manager for digital products. "It’s the only thing that’s fair under these circumstances." In the end, more than 360,000 votes were cast, with Beaufort and Hammondsport receiving 36.2 and 36.0 percent of the vote respectively. Third place went to Weaverville, Calif., with 13.0 percent. The contest is open to towns with populations under 10,000. Last year’s winner was Lewisburg, W.Va. This year’s nail-biter was helped in no small part by the rising influence of social media networking as a virtual get–out–the–vote tool. The BT Coolest Small Towns page earned over 70,000 likes on Facebook and was Tweeted more than 3,300 times (including a Tweet by best-selling novelist Nicholas Sparks that said: "Everyone please vote Beaufort, NC! If it wins I will giveaway a few signed novels!" Sparks lives in New Bern, N.C.). On Facebook, readers and fans from all over the country banded together, proclaiming their love and support for their favorite small towns, sharing videos of their towns, and even dedicating their Facebook profile pictures to the cause (we're talking to you, Kim Price, Erin Cassidy, and Morgen McLaughlin). Mindful of the bragging rights—not to mention the potential marketing payoff—officials in several of the nominated towns campaigned tirelessly for their home bases. Local mayors gave repeated newspaper interviews. "There were 647 towns that were nominated and we made the top ten!" said Beaufort mayor Richard Stanley. New York State Senator Thomas F. O'Mara released a statement in support of Hammondsport, the only town in New York that made the top ten. Local media in all the top–10 towns joined in the chorus, sometimes gently, sometimes not. "No offense to the current leader, Hammondsport, N.Y., but Weaverville has a charm all its own and certainly deserves the notice," read an editorial in the Record Searchlight newspaper in Redding, Calif. But mostly, the towns were just grateful for the attention, no matter how the race finished. "It's an honor to be recognized in the top 10," said Jerome, Ariz. Mayor Jay Kinsella. Jerome finished in 8th place, with almost 5,600 votes—not bad for a town with only 378 residents. —Marc Peyser and Kaeli Conforti MORE FROM BUDGET TRAVEL Why Don’t Americans Take More Vacation? To Go or Not to Go: 11 Places With a Bad Rap Caribbean Deals You Don't Want to Miss

Anthony Bourdain is hardly a newcomer to the travel scene—his No Reservations food travelogue has been a television mainstay for over half a decade—so it’s no surprise to see his latest jaunt, The Layover, getting lots of media coverage. Bourdain’s program will see him seeking out new people, cultures and (of course) foods within the small window of time afforded him by airport layovers in Asia, Europe and the United States. The annals of television travel programs contain a number of icons, of which Bourdain is only one example. There’s Michael Palin, the Monty Python alumnus who has traveled the world in a number of television shows and books; David Attenborough, the naturalist filmmaker whose gravelly British accent should be instantly familiar to fans of the BBC’s Blue Planet and Human Planet; and a collection of contemporary pop-travel shows from The Amazing Race to Wild On! But these popular examples are only one side of the travel genre. What of the obscure, the low budget, the un–syndicated? Away from the big names and networks, there are travel treasures to be found for every category of viewer. For the Road Warrior: Forget those cross–country family roadtrips to the Hoover Dam: how about two–wheeling across the entire globe? Actors Ewan McGregor and Charley Boorman did just that for their 2004 motorbike travelogue, Long Way Round, which took them 20,000 miles from London eastward to New York. Their trip spanned a huge range of environs, from the traffic gridlock of Rome to Mongolian deserts and Russian marshland along the fabled Road of Bones. The trip of a lifetime? Nope—in 2007 the two linked up again for another monster bike ride, this one the “Long Way Down” from the northern tip of Scotland down to Cape Town, South Africa. Where to watch it: Both trips are available on DVD from Netflix, as well as on the Long Way Round online store. For the Traveler with an Iron Stomach: Bourdain might crunch into some interesting cuisine in his wanderings, but for a real look at the dark side of travel food, follow Riku and Tunna on their Madventures. These two Finnish guys travel alone—no camera crew, support vehicles, or huge budgets—and wheedle their way into some of the world’s most exotic cultures and locales. In–between braving drug–fueled shamanic rituals in the Amazon and nuclear fallout in the ghost towns around Chernobyl, Riku and Tunna draw straws for the privilege of sampling some unusual eats—among them monkey brains, blood-gorged leeches, and human placenta. Where to watch it: DVDs of Madventures’ third season are available on the Madventures online store; previous seasons are currently sold out. For the Transit Enthusiast: If you’re the type who would rather take a tuk–tuk than a taxi, try out Charley Boorman’s By Any Means. Eschewing airplanes except when absolutely necessary, Boorman travels from Ireland to Australia (and Australia to Japan in the second series) using local transport. The program’s hook is more than a gimmick: from the windows of Philippine jeepneys and backs of elephants in Nepal, Boorman and his crew observe a world of cultures far removed from luxury cruises and first–class amenities. Where to watch it: Unfortunately for American viewers, both series are currently available only as region–locked DVDs on Amazon’s UK site. Another Boorman program, Race to Dakar—which details Boorman’s attempt to complete the cross–Saharan Dakar Rally—is available on Netflix. For the Backpacker: Three friends and a world of possibilities. It sounds cliché, but Departures’ simple premise—“the revelations of two travelers who strive to find themselves and new perspectives”—has fueled three seasons of globetrotting action. Along with their cameraman, Andre, wanderers Scott and Justin ride reindeer in Siberia, climb into an active volcano in Papua New Guinea, and feed feral hyenas in Ethiopia. The team is currently working on a new travel program, Descending, which will focus on the world’s great dive sites. Where to watch it: All three seasons of Departures are available on the show’s online store. Halogen TV also airs reruns. For the Do–Gooder: We hear lots of stories about how inconsiderate travelers contribute to despoiling the world. That’s why Explore22 is so refreshing: it’s a youth–oriented series that focuses on how travelers can discover and help struggling communities around the globe. Like the cast, the series is still young, but viewers have already been taken to Haiti for earthquake relief and to Peru, where the team joined a construction project to erect a new school. Where to watch it: Put down the TV remote: Explore22 is web–only, and the first few episodes are available for free viewing on the show’s website. Travel shows are no substitute for real experiences, but a good program can help illustrate the world’s wonders. Which travel shows have inspired your own wanderlust? —Ryan Murphy MORE FROM BUDGET TRAVEL Top Budget Travel Destinations for 2012 Solo Travel Websites Worth Checking Out Learn a New Language for Under $100