Forget the Galápagos and Iceland — here are 10 under-the-radar destinations to visit in 2020 if you want to escape the crowds

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• Intrepid Travel, the world's largest small-group adventure travel company, has released its fourth annual "Not Hot" list, highlighting off-the-beaten-path and emerging destinations to visit in 2020. 
• This year's list ranges from the "Galápagos of the North," a wild archipelago off the coast of British Columbia, to the deserts of northern Sudan. 
• The purpose of the list is to help travelers discover new destinations without the crowds and ease the effects of overtourism.
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Egypt is known as the land of pyramids; yet northern Sudan is home to over twice as many.

And while the Galápagos is known as the world's foremost wildlife haven, lesser-known Haida Gwaii, a mountainous archipelago off the coast of British Columbia, is an equally prime destination for wildlife viewing.

Northern Sudan and Haida Gwaii are two of the destinations on Intrepid Travel's 2020 "Not Hot" list, a collection of under-the-radar and emerging destinations for travelers looking to venture off the beaten path and escape crowds of tourists.

Intrepid Travel, the world's largest small-group adventure travel company, specializes in responsible tourism and offers over 1,500 trips in 120 countries across all seven continents.

In recent years, destinations such as Dubrovnik and Venice have buckled under the weight of overtourism, enacting a ban on new restaurants and limiting incoming cruise ships respectively to limit visitor numbers. In 2018, Croatia, which has a population of 4 million, received 57 million overnight visitors, and Italy, a country of 62 million, received 93 million overnight visitors.

Intrepid CEO James Thornton noted that increased climate awareness in recent years has led to travelers becoming more conscious about their impact on the destinations they visit. 

"There is a desire from tourists to ensure they are benefiting the communities they visit and local people they meet, while respecting their cultures, economy and the environment too," he said in a statement. "The Not Hot List aims to meet this growing demand and promote lesser-known destinations that are just as worthy of travelers' time."

Here are the 10 under-the-radar destinations Intrepid Travel recommends for 2020, in no particular order:

Moldova

Estimated number of overnight visitors per year: 160,000

In a nutshell: Europe's least visited country, which receives roughly the same number of visitors in a year that Croatia does in a day

What to see and do: Walk through the world's biggest wine cellar at Milestii Mici winery; visit Transnistria, a breakaway state that upholds Soviet values; tour Orheiul Vechi, a 14th-century monastery built into a cliff and UNESCO World Heritage site

Source: Intrepid Travel; UNWTO; UNWTO

Dakhla, Morocco

Estimated number of overnight visitors per year: 100,000

In a nutshell: An isolated desert community on the edge of the Sahara that was "largely inaccessible until a couple of years ago," according to Intrepid 

What to see and do: Visit the White Sand Dune, a towering inland dune on the edge of a lagoon; sample freshly caught seafood from Bahia de Dakhla lagoon; join kitesurfers at Portorico Beach; go off-roading in Imlili, an inland desert dotted with fresh and saltwater lagoons

Source: Intrepid Travel; MSN; Oxford Business Group

The Gambia

Estimated number of overnight visitors per year:  552,000

In a nutshell: Mainland Africa's smallest country with diverse terrain that spans wetlands, desert, and coast

What to see and do: Visit Wassu Stone Circle, a UNESCO World Heritage site known as "West Africa's Stonehenge"; embark on a river safari around the Baboon Islands; see French colonial architecture on a walking tour through Janjanbureh; experience West African surf culture

Source: Intrepid Travel; UNWTO

See Also:

SEE ALSO: Overtourism can be solved, and it will start with locals 'taking control' of how much tourism — and what kind of it — they want, according to travel experts

DON'T MISS: The Croatian city featured in 'Game of Thrones' is so flooded with tourists that it may ban new restaurants. It's one of many cities buckling under the weight of overtourism.