Travel habits are always changing, where it’s down to sustainability, our own budgets or an all-new TikTok trend. Each year, some habits emerge as big trends in the travel space – and it’s worth brushing up on them before you plan your next big holiday.
Euronews has spent some time looking ahead to 2025 and compiled a roundup of travel trends it thinks will dominate our holiday behaviours in the next year, based on tourism data, news sources as well as conversations with travel experts.
It’s worth noting that plenty of these trends were emerging last year and have already thrived in 2024, including destination dupes, ‘coolcations’ and train travel (you can read about all the predictions we covered right here) but they’re showing no signs of slowing down, and euronews has suggested some new inspiration for each one.
Digital itineraries
There’s no denying the growing use of AI tools in our trip-planning, and whether you’re a fan of it or not, it seems that asking ChatGPT to plan your days out and holidays is here to stay. It can be handy when you’re heading to a brand-new place, right?
Cosmic getaways
No, we’re not talking about space travel. Cosmic getaways actually refers to the growing interest in astro-tourism, and given 20 new International Dark Sky parks launched in 2023, euronews predict it’s going to be huge in 2025 (thanks also to a rise in purposeful journeys).
So, where should you be heading to absorb some of the cosmos? Well, euronews recommends Northumberland, Chile and Iceland, but we’ve got roundups of the very best places to go stargazing and the best places to see the Northern Lights in the world.
Purposeful journeys
All holidays have a purpose - obvs – but what ‘purposeful journeys’ refers to is actually contributing something to the destination you travel to, be it through beach clean ups or wildlife conservation efforts. Some suggested destinations include the Philippines and Ecuador.
Set adventures
Have you visited 90 Bedford street in Manhattan (the apartment building from Friends), or are you intrigued by this Airbnb ‘Gladiator experience’ in the Colosseum? Sounds like set adventures could be right up your alley – and 53 percent of euronews readers have said that a movie or TV show inspired their next holiday. Ideas for this one include Koh Sumui, which is where the third season of White Lotus was filmed, or Paris and Rome, thanks to Emily in Paris.
Destination dupes
Overtourism has been one of the biggest travel news stories of 2024, with the list of destinations encouraging tourists to stay away growing more and more, and everything from tourist taxes to short-term let bans being announced this year.
Some alternative destinations proposed by euronews include Vilnius and Bucharest instead of Barcelona and Amsterdam, Taipei instead of Seoul and Perth instead of Sydney.
Coolcations
The summer of 2024 was the hottest on record for Europe, and the continent was plagued with extreme weather such as heatwaves, wildfires, but also storms and floods. Climate change is a huge driver behind this trend of ‘coolcations’, which is when people head to cooler destinations during the summer months. Euronews suggests Canada, Alaska, Norway, Sweden, Finland and Iceland, but we have our own collection of recommendations for coolcationing, too.
Rail renaissance
Europe’s railway boom has been blessing us with brand-new routes and services for a while now, but the idea of factoring your train journey into your trip isn’t going anywhere. Recently, we’ve covered the re-launch of this Orient Express service, the potential launch of a single-ticket booking system for all European trains, as well as the return of this round-the-world luxury route.
Other options, according to Euronews, include Florida’s Brightline and South Africa’s Rovos Rail – check out our favourite train journeys and luxury train journeys in the world here.
You can read more about all of these in euronews’s report here.
Now, for fresh trends emerging for the year ahead – read on.
Trendy in 2025
For more inspiration for the year ahead, we’ve covered roundups of the most exciting destinations to travel to in 2025, according to Lonely Planet, National Geographic, Booking.com and Condé Nast Traveller.
Did you see that this popular European tourist attraction is capping its visitor numbers?
Plus: This beautiful country was just crowned 2025’s ‘destination of the year’ by Travel + Leisure.
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