1 Eco rewards

A step-change in the evolution of sustainability practices will see the emergence of loyalty schemes that incentivise travellers to make greener choices, predicts Al Butler, Senior Client Programme Manager at serviced apartment specialist SilverDoor. For example, travellers who choose to stay in a more modest apartment or opt out of a daily servicing would earn points that can be redeemed for vouchers or rewards for their personal use, or a donation to a charity or project that supports sustainability.

2 Less bleisure

Two of ours experts expect to see a drop in the number of blended business and leisure trips in the next 12 months – but for different reasons. Julie Cope, Chief Operating Officer at Take2Eton Group, says clients’ concerns about duty of care, insurance, risk and liability are forcing them to put policies in place to prohibit bleisure trips. Meanwhile Charlie Sultan, President Concur Travel at SAP Concur, believes there will be a demise in bleisure travel as remote workers return to offices and companies look to hire employees within commuting distance. 

3 The AI layer

AI, of course, will continue to dominate the dialogue in the coming years but Paul Tilstone, founder of consultancy temoji, believes one of the most interesting developments will be how AI could form a new layer of interaction between booker and traveller. He says this will lead to a number of questions, such as who will own that additional layer – the corporate, TMC, OBT or other – and what will it mean for TMCs and OBTs and their brands? Will it replace the TMC and OBT as the single, chosen provider and start to act as a broker for clients to find most suitable across multiple players? And what impact will it have on distribution fragmentation?

4 Responsible destinations

With ESG continuing to creep up the agenda, CWT expects to see more organisations giving closer consideration to where they hold their meetings, conferences and events. Not only will they be seeking responsible venues, they’ll be giving preference to hubs, cities, regions, or countries known for their sustainability credentials. Organisations will promote the use of green transport, micromobility solutions, eco-certified hotels and venues with energy-efficient technologies and zero waste policies. Amsterdam, Oslo and Copenhagen are good examples of cities leading the way and could become preferred destinations.

5 Restricted rentals 

James Austin, Access Bookings Director of Organisational Development, predicts it will become more difficult to find extended-stay options in certain destinations in the coming years, citing Paris, Amsterdam and Seville as good examples. This is due to increasing pushback from tourism officials, local governments and local communities who are frustrated by the influx of visitors and the impact on their cities, towns and villages.  

6 Virtual reality

With younger demographics like Gen Z and Gen Alpha set to form a significant part of the workforce by 2030, the next few years will see virtual technology increasingly being used to enhance the booking experiences of travellers. Although the technology is currently only being used by its leisure agency members, Advantage Travel Partnership believes its TMC members will soon start to blend virtual experiences with their traditional expertise to help create seamless journey for travellers. “TMCs will begin to offer travellers the opportunity to explore travel options, viewing airlines, hotels, and amenities as well as exploring unfamiliar locations through immersive virtual reality experiences to choose their ideal options,” says Andrea Caulfield-Smith, Advantage’s Managing Director Global Business Travel. 

7 The Middle East

The Middle East is poised to become an even bigger hub for business travel with significant growth forecasted in the coming years, according to Rebecca Hollants Van Loocke, COO EMEA Frasers Hospitality, with countries like Saudi Arabia, UAE, Qatar, and Bahrain already seeing unprecedented growth. With Virgin Atlantic starting flights from Heathrow to Riyadh and Wizz Air launching Gatwick-Jeddah flights from March, there will be better connections to Saudi Arabia, which is investing heavily in its tourism infrastructure to the tune of over $800 billion over the next decade, with significant ‘giga’ projects in partnership with global brands.

8 Monday-night stays

The hybrid workplace is here to stay but as more companies insist their employees return to the office for a few days a week, traditional travel patterns are being turned on their head. Tuesday to Thursdays have emerged as the most popular office days, with many workers choosing to hold on to Fridays and Mondays to extend their weekends. The result, says Andy Besent, Head of Sales Leonardo & NYX Hotels, is that there has been a sharp rise in bookings for Monday-night stays at its London properties as employees chose to travel up on a Monday night to be ready for the office, or to meet office-based clients on Tuesday morning.

9 Trip management fees

David Chappell, Chief Product Officer, TripStax, is predicting the death of the ‘Individual Fee’ and emergency of a new type of commercial model – the ‘Trip Management Fee’. “Rather than nickle and diming every element of the trip with individual transaction fees, agents can now aggregate all the data from different booking sources, centrally – NDC, offline, OBT, hotel booking sites, car, rail – to have a single fee that doesn’t change regardless of the number of components,” he explains. “It will increasingly make sense to charge a centralised fee to manage the entire trip data, allowing agents to articulate their value proposition better. 

10 Personalised flying

According to the 2025 Travel Trends report by Amadeus, air passengers can expect to enjoy even more immersive, connected experiences as airlines invest in algorithmic entertainment with hyper-personalised in-flight systems showing movies, TV shows, games, adverts and shopping opportunities. Content will be tailored to individual flyers, based on their preferences as loyalty scheme members. Passengers can already stream content in flight with high-speed Wi-Fi and the next phase will see airlines loaning virtual reality headsets to passengers in premium classes.