“Exploring the Future: Seven Game-Changing Travel Trends to Watch in 2025”

As you begin considering the upcoming year, have you contemplated your travel plans? The global travel agencies – ranging from Airbnb to Booking.com – certainly have.

The forecasts they’ve compiled, derived from survey evidence, user activities, and preliminary reservations, serve as an annual display of innovative concepts within the industry, assisting in pinpointing prospective hotspots and contemplating the motivations behind our explorations in the year ahead.

“People are attracted to trends as they provide a sense of organization and comprehension in a world that is increasingly intricate and rapid,” clarifies Jenny Southern, CEO of Globetrender, a top travel trend forecasting agency. “In terms of travel, trends enhance understanding and serve as a guide for how to interact with our surroundings.

Cultural futurist Jasmine Bina, CEO of Concept Bureau and a seasoned analyst of consumer tendencies, regards trends as indicators of our most profound desires. “Travel trends reveal what individuals truly yearn for when the conventions of daily life are lifted,” she states. “Presently, what they most crave is a sense of transformation.”

Despite the travel sector having mostly reverted to pre-pandemic conditions, economic instability, persistent conflicts in Ukraine and the Middle East, along with the new US presidency, all contribute to making 2025 feel quite unpredictable.

“One might suggest that we are in search of new anchors,” comments Bina. “Travel trends like stargazing, romantic getaways, nostalgia tourism, sleep tourism, digital detoxes, and more illustrate that people are striving to reconnect with something greater than themselves.”

Southern concurs. “Trends construct a common narrative – a sense of collective discovery – where we are all players in a worldwide conversation about what truly matters,” she notes. “Whether it’s the charm of undiscovered destinations or the wish to ‘travel with intention,’ trends furnish us with an anchor, facilitating our understanding of our place within the expansive realm of global travel.”

Below are some of the prominent trends anticipated for 2025, as forecasted by several of the leading travel brands and tour operators worldwide.

Noctourism – the combination of nocturnal activities and tourism – includes nighttime adventures, ranging from extended hours at museums to luminescent beaches and viewing the auroras. Solar activity is predicted to reach unprecedented heights in 2025, sending an above-average quantity of charged particles that will interact with the Earth’s atmosphere, offering extraordinary aurora-watching prospects. The award-winning UK travel agency Trailfinders recommends FinnishLapland and Norway’s Lofoten Islands, along with Svalbard and Iceland, are premier locations to observe them. Nocturnal tourism aligns seamlessly with a long-standing principle of the travel sector: promoting connection with the global community.

Calmcations – vacations solely aimed at fostering a sense of serenity – remain in vogue for 2025. The focus on noise, especially following a report from the World Health Organisation identifying noise contamination, primarily from traffic, as the second most significant contributor to poor health in Western Europe, is notable.

Havila Voyages has developed “quiet escapes” along the coastline of Norway, providing an opportunity to retreat from the chaos of daily life, complete with sound tracking stations and a live noise prediction system that juxtaposes sound levels against major cities such as New York, Paris, and London. Alternatively, Unplugged provides technology-free lodgings in the UK and Europe aimed “to assist the perpetually connected in switching off”; while the newly launched retreat Majamaja in the Helsinki archipelago features a collection of architect-designed off-the-grid cabins designed for reconnecting with nature. This indicates that, at present, the allure of travel involves escaping technology.

We should anticipate that technology will increasingly influence trip planning: travel technology firm Amadeus discovered that nearly 50% of its clients aim to emphasize generative AI through 2025. The study also noted, though, that several travel companies are still uncertain about how to apply this technology; they might draw inspiration from flight-free holiday provider Byway, which has developed its unique AI system to simplify timetables and multi-country travel, addressing a significant challenge pertaining to European travel.

Other organizations, including Trip Advisor, are using generative AI to assist in the creation of itineraries for trips, while an increasing number of airports are moving away from paper tags and adopting this technology to enhance baggage sorting efficiency. At Hyatt hotels, an AI-driven bed monitors your heart rate, movement, and blood pressure, aiming to provide greater comfort and a more restful night’s sleep.

However, technology isn’t solely beneficial. Research conducted by the ABTA association representing travel agents and tour operators indicates that a Gen Z traveler is now nearly as likely to peruse a holiday brochure for travel inspiration as to search the internet for ideas, suggesting that the shift towards technology is not universal.

Accompanying the increase in digital engagement has been an uptick in digital fatigue, especially regarding interpersonal connections. A 2024 Forbes Health survey indicated that 79% of Gen Z feel worn out from online dating. So, what’s the solution? A travel trends report from Globetrender and Amadeus highlights the significance of real-life encounters as one of its primary forecasts for the upcoming year.

Whether or not you experience a holiday romance, finding a journey where friendships can grow is more attainable than ever, with a rising array of group and solo travel choices. G Adventures and Flash Pack are merely two companies providing broader selections for solo adventurers desiring social encounters.

Following considerable overtourism challenges in 2024, off-the-beaten-path locales are experiencing a surge in popularity. As Byway points out in their 2025 travel trends report, “individuals desire to travel to places where they are wholeheartedly welcomed.” The organization highlights “destination duplicates” – vacation spots that resemble popular destinations – as a noteworthy trend. Here, tourists might exchange Cornwall for Norfolk, for instance.

Other prominent locales for the upcoming year are a bit more removed from the customary tourist path. Trailfinders identifies Uzbekistan as one of their top destinations; while luxury travel operator Scott Dunn is favoring the islands of East Africa, attributed to fresh hotel openings in Zanzibar and Madagascar, plus a new luxury yacht adventure in the isolated Aldabra islands.

At Airbnb, the 20 most sought-after destinations for 2025 comprise Milton Keynes and East Sussex. Their compilation stemmed from data reflecting trending searches and destinations added to wish lists on the platform. It also encompasses Rome, Tokyo, and Milan, all cities having faced overtourism in 2024, indicating that this challenge is far from resolved.

For those accustomed to vacationing in southern Europe, the focus has shifted from “where’s warm?” to “where’s cool?” As temperatures in classic summer getaway spots across the Mediterranean continue to reach new heights, climate change is exerting an increasing impact on our travel choices. Scott Dunn experienced a 26% rise in bookings to Finland and Norway in 2024 and anticipates more visitors heading to northern Europe where summer temperatures linger in the mid-20s.

The alteration of seasons is not only influencing beach enthusiasts; it’s also affecting individuals traveling to observe wildlife. The peak safari season has transitioned from December to March according to Scott Dunn, a result of changing climate trends and affordability. Climate change is a present-day reality, and both the travel industry and tourists are adapting to it.

Will ’90s music legends Oasis and Eminem emulate Taylor Swift’s example and shake up the travel sector in 2025? The pop sensation is recognized for driving travel and tourism globally during her Eras tour, which wrapped up in December 2024. While music-related tourism is a growing phenomenon, Eminem and Oasis’ comeback tours also reflect an emerging trend: the ascent of nostalgia tourism.

Globetrender refers to this phenomenon as “New Heydays” and observes that as millennials progress into midlife, the vacations they cherished during childhood will experience a renaissance. It anticipates growing adult summer camps in the US, an uptick in interest for Eurocamp (camping vacations in continental Europe), and various nostalgic pop-up experiences, like the Polly Pocket Airbnb of 2024, to proliferate. This likely signifies a desire for a break from uncertainty and a quest to retreat to the more comforting realm of childhood.