6 Key Travel Trends in 2025
Published November 27th, 2024
Photography by Claudia Laroye
I’m baaaack! And I’ve brought my Modern Traveller crystal ball to forecast the future travel trends for 2025. If you read my 2024 key travel trends piece, you’ll know that I wasn’t far off the mark in highlighting the upward trend of using AI in travel planning and the explosion of concert fans moving for the music – Taylor Swift’s gargantuan Eras Tour is just wrapping up in my hometown of Vancouver - 21 months after it began in spring 2023.
Flush with the glory of last year’s successful prognostications, I’m delighted to present my predictions for six key travel trends in 2025.
All-Inclusive Goes Gourmet
We want it all, and we want it now. Expedia Group’s Unpack ’25 report notes that travellers want more from their hotel experiences - and some increasingly want it all. Expedia notes that all-inclusive resort searches are trending upwards as guests crave easy luxury and distinctive or top-rated hotel dining experiences when selecting where to stay.
Hoteliers are getting the message. In November 2024, Marriott Hotels celebrated the launch, renovation and revitalization of the Barbados Collection, its seven all-inclusive properties on the popular Caribbean Island, and is partnering with French Michelin chef Clement Vergeat in the Collection’s menu overhaul. C’est magnifique!
Keep it Cool
The record-breaking heat waves in 2024 are reshaping travel plans as Canadians become more mindful of climate and travel-related challenges. A YouGov survey commissioned by Flight Centre Canada reveals that more than half of Canadians (54%) are concerned about travel disruptions, while 41% worry about severe weather when choosing destinations. Some of the “cool-cation” hot spots include:
Churchill, Manitoba – "Polar Bear Capital of the World," offering tours and beluga whale kayaking in a wild sub-arctic setting.
Queenstown, New Zealand – A winter sports hub with skiing, snowboarding, and adventure activities in the Southern Alps.
Whitehorse, Yukon – Witness the Northern Lights, go dog sledding, and enjoy cozy Arctic stays.
Interlaken, Switzerland – Experience the Bernese Alps with scenic train rides, paragliding and a wide range of winter activities.
Riga, Latvia – A Baltic gem with historic architecture, vibrant arts scene and a cool climate.
Racketeering
Coined by Globetrender, this trend reflects the growing popularity of racket sports like tennis, pickleball and padel during vacations, spurred in part by the 2024 film “Challengers.” If you’re the type who ‘has paddle, will travel,’ companies like Pickleball in Paradise can organize a racket sport-themed vacation, while resorts worldwide are adding state-of-the-art courts, clinics and tournaments.
Notable destinations include the stunning Diamond Dome tennis courts of the Bürgenstock Resort overlooking Switzerland’s Lake Lucerne, and Canadian-owned Tres Palapas Baja Pickleball Resort in Los Barilles, Mexico, an easy 55-minute drive north of Los Cabos International Airport.
Riding the Rails
Travellers are getting back on track with the more relaxed and sustainable pace of train travel. And not just on fabulous bucket list train trips like Canada’s epic Rocky Mountaineer journey, but riding the rails in destinations in Sweden, Germany, Japan and Switzerland – the latter being arguably the country with THE most comprehensive, connected and efficient rail system in the world.
Australia-based Intrepid Travel, operating almost 1,000 small group adventures across all seven continents, has added three new rail trips and extended over 50 of its tours by a day for 2025 for a longer, slower way to go.
Silver Bullet Wellness
Labyrinth at Kartause Ittingen, Switzerland
Wellness tourism, projected to grow 16.6 percent annually and reach $2.1 trillion by 2027 (Global Wellness Institute), is seeing the rise of “Silver Bullet Wellness,” which provides personalized health habits and longevity plans for those with deep pockets.
It seems many of us will do anything to avoid those fine lines, wrinkles and apparently, much, much more. Luxury travellers are now seeking treatments for issues like insomnia, cognitive decline and disease prevention, moving beyond traditional pampering treatments to “life-extension programs.”
I was always taught that you can’t cheat death or taxes, but adherents of this trend may beg to differ. Participants want to return home regenerated and rewired, whether that’s thanks to a “monk-level” retreat at Kartause Ittingen in Switzerland or Aleenta Retreat Chiang Mai in Thailand; genetic testing at Buchinger Wilhelmi in Germany or menopause therapy at the Amilla Maldives.
Wanderful Women
Women’s adventure travel - solo or with BFFs - is back (again!) and will continue to rise in 2025. In its recent study, luxury travel network Virtuoso and forecaster Globetrender shine the spotlight on the explosion of independent travel among women into next year.
According to Virtuoso, a striking 71% of solo travelers are women, with nearly half—47 percent—having navigated life changes like divorce, widowhood and raising families. I live this reality and couldn’t be more delighted that the wander women trend continues to run strong. We have time, we have money and we want to do cool sh$t.
Travel providers are responding by offering tailored experiences focused on personal connections, unique experiences and women’s specific needs. Intrepid’s Women’s Expeditions, all-female tours led by a local female leader, grew by 37% in 2024. AmaWaterways removed the dreaded single supplement for solo travellers on select European river cruises, and Swiss travel network A Small World launched the boutique Solo Cruise Company for solo women 55+.