Detour destinations, all-inclusives, trips to ‘reconnect’ with nature and our ‘inner selves’, looking for natural phenomena, drawing inspiration from films and series for the chosen destination. There are many trends for travel in 2025. At the same time, a new trend is spreading through airports all over the world, annoying many people.
Álvaro de Campos wrote that “the best way to travel is to feel”. That may be so… However, it’s always better to get away. It’s hard to find anyone who doesn’t like to travel, and various booking sites and travel guides are already revealing the trends for next year. As the year draws to a close, some people are already planning which new destinations to visit. At the same time, a new trend is emerging on social media that is irritating some travelers: photographing the trays with their belongings at airport security.
Detour Destinations
According to TNews, based on the “Unpack” survey, which combines data from sources such as Expedia, Hotels.com and Vrbo, along with the results of a global survey of 25,000 travelers, the Expedia booking site explores the dynamics that will shape travel choices next year. The same company predicts that next year, for example, there will be several changes in the behavior patterns of travelers who will not limit themselves to visiting the best-known tourist destinations, but will also take so-called “detours”, which can be visited in a day (63% of consumers say they are likely to visit a ‘detour destination’ on their next trip). These include Reims as a detour from Paris; Brescia as a detour from Milan; Girona as a detour from Barcelona; Santa Barbara as a detour from Los Angeles; Fukuoka, as a detour from Tokyo and Abu Dhabi, as a detour from Dubai.
The Age of All Inclusive
What’s more, we’re entering the “All-Inclusive Era”. According to the company, Generation Z is increasingly attracted to all-inclusive hotels. A third of Generation Z travelers said that their perception of all-inclusive hotels has improved and 42% say that an all-inclusive is their “favorite hotel”. The company believes that this new trend is justified by the “ease of booking” – a response from 39% of those surveyed. 38% justify their choice because the all-inclusive stay is “luxurious”. And the truth is that with this package, there are far fewer worries.
Gastronomic experiences
in hotels
It’s also becoming fashionable to book hotels with dinner reservations in mind, as the booking website Hotels.com shows. It should be remembered that several hotels around the world have bet on opening critically acclaimed restaurants with Michelin-starred chefs and rotating seasonal menus. The aim? To attract more visitors. And on the same website, positive reviews of the hotels’ restaurants, chefs and bars have increased by 40% year on year.
Expedia writes that TikTok has also inspired travelers to seek out certain products – such as chocolate bars in Dubai, beauty products from Korea, macarons from Paris, pastéis de nata in Belém, etc. There are people who organize their trips around these products, influencing those who follow them to do the same. The study revealed that 39% of travelers choose to buy from grocery stores and supermarkets, while 44% opt for local products.
Reconnection journeys and natural phenomena
In 2025, more and more people will opt for “reconnection” trips, better known as JOMO. Connecting with nature, going to meet your “inner self”. According to the booking website Vrbo, JOMO travel means “doing less on vacation to escape the hustle and bustle of everyday life and staying in cozy cabins or quiet beach houses to increase relaxation and reconnection”. 62% of travelers say that this type of travel reduces stress and anxiety by taking them away from daily responsibilities, and almost half say that it increases quality time with their family or friends. Some of the options include a beach house, secluded lakeside accommodation or a rustic farmhouse in the countryside.
Speaking of nature, it seems that people have also started looking for destinations where they can watch natural phenomena in real time. In fact, some people already have a list. The survey data revealed that the Northern Lights (61%) are the main phenomenon that travelers want to see. This is followed by geological phenomena (30%) such as volcanoes and hot springs. However, in 2025, there are many people who want to see the “Black Sun” in the Wadden Sea National Park in Denmark; the murmurs of starlings in the Somerset countryside in the UK; volcanoes, lava fields and black sand beaches in the Reykjavik region in Iceland. 80% of travelers say that it is important to stay in a place that offers a privileged view of these events.
Bright light shining on Portugal at World Travel Awards
Homens viajam sozinhos
According to transport booking website Omio, by 2025, we will see “an increase in male solo travelers”. “From self-discovery to mental empowerment, from independence to increased confidence, there are many benefits to traveling alone,” the company argues. “In recent years, the trend has been strongly led by women, but we will soon see an increase in the number of male solo travelers, with 30% of men compared to 23% of women planning a solo trip in 2025.” In addition, the same platform says that male travelers are also planning big-budget trips – 28% plan to spend more than 2,400 euros.
Por último, há o fenómeno Set-jetting. São cada vez mais as pessoas que escolhem os seus destinos influenciadas pelos filmes ou séries que veem. De acordo com os sites, 66% dos visitantes admitiram fazê-lo.
Graças à série da Netflix Squid Game, muita gente deseja visitar Jeju, na Coreia do Sul. O mais recente filme sobre Maria Callas também levou muita gente a marcar viagem para Budapeste, Hungria. Um outro exemplo é Paris, pela famosa série Emily in Paris.
Airportaesthetic
To make almost all of these journeys, you have to get on a plane. And while most people are in a hurry to get through security and the x-ray, others don’t seem to be so concerned. Recently, we’ve seen the rise of the trend to photograph all the loose objects in the airport security tray. From sunglasses to headphones, shoes, toiletries, books, wallets… Everything is aesthetically designed.
“I’ve made all my girls unpack their bags for aesthetic shots on the airport tray,” boasted New York influencer Chelsea Henriquez, 31, in the caption of a video published on her Tik Tok and which already has more than 41,000 likes. To get the best shot possible – and avoid getting scolding looks from other people at the airport – Henriquez told The Post: “I take the tray with me after I go through security and organize my items near the benches where people put their shoes back on.” “That way, I don’t have to rush to set up the tray while I’m in line and I don’t bother other travelers either,” he explained.
Other influencers have come up with another strategy to avoid annoying people. In one of the most popular videos on the same social network about the hashtag “airportaesthetic”, with more than 1.8 million views, content creator Piper Taich, from Chicago, explains in a tutorial that her airport security board was bought on Amazon and her boarding pass edited in Photoshop. “If you’re asking what the point of this is, the point is that it’s fun and it’s art,” she told CNN. “It’s a really fun way to express my love of fashion, thrifting and art direction,” she added. But not everyone agrees and there are already several critics of this new trend. The New York Post, for example, called it “a plague led by influencers in airport security lines”. The UK’s Metro newspaper said that “the trend is anxiety-inducing” and risks making someone “the most hated person at the airport”.
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