Travel technology provider Amadeus has released its Travel Trends for 2025 report, offering a glimpse into the future of global travel.
Partnering with travel trends forecasting agency Globetrender, the report highlights five key trends that will reshape the travel landscape in 2025.
These are:
New heydays
Reflecting on the good old days when life was simpler, travellers are looking for simpler trips driven by past experiences and a phenomenon known as “rosy retrospection”.
Adults are looking to relive gap years, honeymoons and childhood dreams. As millennials enter middle age, companies are reporting the revival of the classic caravan and camping holiday. In the USA, adult summer camps are booming.
Personalised flying
Air passengers can expect highly immersive, connected experiences in 2025. Airlines are upping their game, combining algorithmic entertainment with hyper-personalised in-flight systems that deliver everything from movies and TV series to adverts and buying opportunities.
These will be tailored to individual flyers, based on their historic preferences as loyalty scheme members.
Passengers can now stream content mid-flight with high-speed Wi-Fi from providers like SpaceX’s Starlink. We may also see airlines increasingly loaning VR headsets to passengers in first and business class.
Trailblazer hotels
In 2025 hotels are set to become destinations in their own right, immersing guests in the local culture, history and natural beauty of the hotel’s surroundings.
While many trailblazer hotels are independently owned, some belong to larger chains. Reverb Hamburg, a Hard Rock property, opened in a World War II-era bunker; Marriott International’s Edition Lake Como, set in a 19th-century Italian mansion, opens in 2025 and Accor’s Handwritten Collection is expected to include more than 17 boutique hotels globally by 2025.
Asia uplift
With China opening its doors to more travellers by expanding visa-free travel and Thailand offering new digital nomad visas and a broader visa-free program for 93 countries, Asia is on course to attract a more global audience in 2025.
Pop culture is also driving interest, with TV series like The White Lotus set in Thailand and season two of Squid Game set in South Korea. Iberia has recently launched direct flights between Madrid and Tokyo, making it easier than ever for travelers to explore Japan.
Over the next 15 years, IATA predicts that Asia Pacific will record the fastest rise in passenger numbers and contribute to more than half of the net increase in global passenger numbers by 2043.
Connections IRL
Faced with digital dating burnout, travel is set to become a new way of creating real-world relationships, from holiday romances to friendships.
According to Amadeus booking data, solo leisure travel rose by 15.6% in 2023 compared to the previous year, with a further 9.2% rise so far in 2024.
Group and solo adventures designed to spark genuine connections will increase, helped by apps like TimeLeft, which enables travellers to meet five strangers for dinner every Wednesday in over 60 countries.
Discussing the report, Daniel Batchelor, Vice President, Global Corporate Marketing and Communications, Amadeus, said: “After a year where change has become the backdrop to daily life, travellers are seeking a deeper connection to people and places more than ever.
“We’ll see a blend of old favorites and new immersive experiences, with one-of-a-kind stays putting destinations on the map.”
Echoing the findings, Jenny Southan, founder and CEO, Globetrender, said: “It’s important to predict the changing ways people are exploring the world and the influences that are determining their decisions. Partnering with Amadeus in producing this 2025 Travel Trends report means that together we can help businesses successfully anticipate the needs and demands of tomorrow’s travellers.
“For consumers who are under pressure to keep finding joy in a volatile world, it’s no surprise that people are looking to the ‘good old days’ when life was simpler, turning to traditional means of making human connections, in spite of the ascent of AI and other sci-fi technology.”
