Travel 2025: What Trends Are Coming?

Travel is changing. AI is making trip planning smarter, sustainable travel is picking up, and people are seeking more personal, meaningful experiences – at every step of their journey, from inspiration to the trip itself. 2025 will keep these trends moving forward.

To close this year, we asked travel leaders what they’re most excited about for the year ahead. From smarter tools to smoother trips and fresh ideas for how we explore the world, here’s what they think will shape the future of travel.

Ready to see what’s next? Let’s jump in!

Two trends I’m most excited about shaping the future of travel are passion-driven and wellness-focused experiences. Passion-driven travel is booming as people seek deeper connections to their interests, from iconic sporting venues to astro-adventures and curated cultural tours. Wellness travel, especially in groups, is also on the rise, blending relaxation with personal growth through yoga and mindfulness retreats—our yoga trips alone have grown 400%. Destinations like Bhutan and Belize are gaining traction for authentic experiences, while the Nordics and New Zealand remain favourites for natural beauty. These shifts signal an increasing desire for travel that supports personal enrichment, balance, and meaningful connections.

Erika de Santi
Co-Founder | WeRoad

AI has transformed chatbots, but by 2025, I believe its focus will shift to advancing real-life hotel experiences through actionable insights. The hospitality industry sits on vast amounts of data, and AI can now distill it instantly to support guest interactions. As a next iteration, I believe we will see AI going beyond insights to creating experiences – like alerting housekeeping about allergies or informing restaurants of a guest’s birthday. The more data the hoteliers capture in the systems, the better and more remarkable travel will become.

Matthijs Welle
CEO | Mews

In 2025, I see social commerce truly coming of age, transforming how people discover and book travel, including organized adventures. Mobile apps, AI, and interest-based discovery — like the kind popularized by TikTok — are converging to create seamless connections between inspiration and action.

With people spending more time on these platforms, the travel industry has an opportunity to meet them where they are. By leveraging AI and first-party data, companies can deliver highly personalized recommendations into their feeds, ensuring the journey from inspiration to booking feels effortless and intuitive.

Travis Pittman
CEO & Co-Founder | TourRadar

Innovation has always driven me — it’s what brought me to UN Tourism six years ago. Since then, I’ve seen the tourism sector thrive through resilience and innovation. What inspires me most is how technology strengthens the human connections at the heart of travel. As we enter the AI era, I’m excited to see entrepreneurs reimagine the sector. AI is not just a trend – it’s a revolution, projected to contribute between $15.7 and $19.9 trillion to the global economy by 2030, with generative AI alone adding $2.6 to $4.4 trillion annually. This transformative potential makes AI the future of tourism – and the future of tourism is already here.

Natalia Bayona
Executive Director | UN Tourism

For years, the ‘connected trip’—seamlessly integrating flights with local transport—has felt just out of reach. But I believe 2025 could finally change that, thanks to advances in ground and sea transportation. While planes have long dominated travel innovation, true potential lies in systems for buses, ferries, and trains. New GDS technology now lets platforms like Booking.com and Google integrate these modes effortlessly. At Travelier, we’re helping make this vision a reality, enabling travelers to book flights, buses, and ferries in one seamless transaction. Next year, this vision will scale, bringing the connected trip to life.

Noam Toister
CEO | Travelier

As we enter the new year, artificial intelligence will continue driving personalized and immersive travel experiences. Sustainable aviation fuels (SAF) are also gaining traction, paving the way for greener air travel. Innovations are tackling persistent frustrations, like lost luggage, with solutions from companies like ubloquity. On the ground, systems like Pegasus’ Midas enhance operations with intelligent de-icing, while Nabla’s weather prediction tech helps minimize disruptions. These advancements signal a future of air travel that’s more efficient, customer-focused, and tech-driven than ever.

Nichola Bates
Managing Partner | Aerospace Xelerated
Head of Global Accelerators and Innovation Programs | Boeing

After Covid, we have seen a significant shift in customers’ preferences from buying goods to living experiences which has been extremely favorable to travel. The segment of travel that has benefited the most from this trend has been the one that involves discovering new cultures in remote destinations. This is why we are so bullish at Exoticca as we believe this trend will not only continue, but also accelerate in the coming years as traveling to these destinations becomes more affordable.

Pere Valles
CEO | Exoticca

In 2025, AI will revolutionize travel planning, with 42% of people planning to use it for trip organization, according to a HomeToGo survey. While AI optimizes travel, a seamless, end-to-end AI travel companion is still rare. Next year, I expect travel tech players to step up with holistic AI solutions combining search, booking, and post-trip support. At HomeToGo, we’re leading this shift with Super AI Sunny, our future sidekick designed to guide guests through every aspect of travel planning. We’re excited to push boundaries in 2025 and see how others innovate in this space.

Dr. Patrick Andrae
CEO & Co-Founder | HomeToGo