Table of Contents
It’s a new year, which means a new deep dive into the travel and tourism trends you should be aware of in 2025, and a look at how tour businesses can capitalize on them.
In our annual look at what travellers want and how travel businesses are catering to them, we’ll highlight a number of new trends that have bubbled to the surface in the industry, including 2025 travel trends reports from major players like Expedia, Booking.com, TravelPulse, and Condé Nast Traveler. We’ll also revisit and update some of the best ideas and innovations from last year that should still be on your radar.
2024 was a record-breaking year for tourism
We like to kick off our travel trend report with some positive general industry news and research, and 2024 didn’t disappoint. According to the United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO), 2024 saw the travel and tourism industry surge back to nearly 96% of pre-pandemic activity levels by July. Around 790 million people traveled globally. That’s a 4% decrease from 2019 and an 11% increase from 2023.
Many destinations reported record-breaking years, including Spain, Chile, and Morocco. Business travel spending also broke records. The recovery was such that 2024 was also a year when “overtourism” once again started hitting the headlines, for example in this Guardian article, with some destinations, such as the Canary Islands, Venice, and Santorini, expressing concerns. Greece implemented a €20 tax on cruise passengers visiting Mykonos and Santorini in response. Overall though, 2024 marked a major rebound for the travel industry. We’re back!
Let‘s look at some of the travel trends that emerged during 2024 and look set to continue in 2025, as well as some new ones. As always, our list includes some new portmanteaus to make you grin or groan.
16 innovative tourism ideas for 2025
1. Friendtrips
2023 and 2024 saw a rise in group travel and “reunion” travel when people began to get together again, often marking the occasion with a trip. Now we have “friendtrips,” referring to the growing trend of young adults, particularly from Gen Z, turning to group trips as a way to travel with buddies—and even make new friends on what the New York Times called “friend-finding tours.”
According to surveys by TravelPulse and Travel And Tour World, young adults crave travel that takes them away from their digital lives and helps them make new friends and enjoy new experiences with like-minded people. Despite the aim of disconnecting from social media, platforms like Pinterest are still popular ways for this demographic to find and discuss ideas for friendtrips.
2. Skillcations
In previous years’ trend reports, we’ve highlighted the emergence of “hush trips,” “workcations,” and “micro-cations,” where people travel with the intention of combining a vacation with work. One related travel trend to look out for in 2025 is “skillcations”—when travelers use a vacation to also learn some new skills. These could be work-related, like enrolling in a professional development course in another country. Or they could be more related to personal interests, like learning cooking in Italy, painting in France, or, as the Huffington Post reported, “knitting your way around Iceland.” This is part of a broader trend where travelers are seeking more immersive experiences that involve some personal growth.
3. Frolleagues
If you thought “bleisure” was maybe one of the less poetic portmanteaus from our 2024 report, “frolleagues” might just have it beat. Bleisure (also see below) describes the trend of business travellers tacking on some leisure time to the end of business trips or just taking their family along with them. Now, as many people return to the office, there’s a growth in business professionals combining work and leisure travel with coworkers—or frolleagues (colleagues who are also friends). Hilton’s 2025 Trends Report reported that nearly 30% of global travelers often embark on leisure trips with frolleagues as a form of team-building to strengthen bonds in the office. This could include team-building retreats and off-site meetings in a destination or environment that takes people out of the traditional office space.
4. Bleisure
Talking of business travel, we haven’t seen the last of “bleisure.” Business travelers still like the opportunity to tack on a short leisure trip to a work trip to maintain some work-life balance. Forbes Magazine highlighted a few other business travel trends for 2025, including:
- Personalized and seamless booking: Travelers want intuitive, self-service booking platforms that offer tailored options aligning with their needs and company policies.
- Technological integration: The use of advanced technologies, such as artificial intelligence (AI) to streamline booking processes, personalize travel experiences, and improve expense management.
5. Noctourism
When the sun goes down, that’s the signal for one of 2025’s rising trends to get going. “Noctourism” is a major trend to watch in 2025. Stargazing trips and activities, also known as “astrotourism” and “dark skies tourism,” will be even more popular in 2025 due to high solar activity. There will be two total lunar eclipses and two partial lunar eclipses during the year. Other experiences include watching the Northern Lights and going to an observatory. Some tour operators are piggy-backing this trend by creating what Vogue Magazine called “celestial retreats.” These offer activities such as stargazing and moonlit yoga sessions, allowing guests to embrace their cosmic side.
6. Sleep tourizzzm
Sleep is obviously also a popular nocturnal pursuit. Last year we highlighted how the travel industry had woken up to the opportunities offered by a rise in “sleep retreats.” This trend continues to grow with what the 2025 Hilton Trends Report dubbed “Sleep Tourizzzm 2.0: The Next Sleep Cycle.” The report highlighted trends like “Hurkle-Durkling,” a Scottish term for just lazing around in bed, a growth in hotels catering to especially sleepy travelers, and wellness retreats that include a sleep component. Wellbeing Escapes is an example of one travel company looking to give its clients a good night’s sleep. “Our clients were coming to us saying they felt generally depleted, and this often seemed to be down to lack of sleep,” its founder told the BBC. “We try to incorporate elements of the local cultures into our sleep programmes.”
7. “Herstory” and other women-focused travel
Condé Nast Traveler reported an uptick in demand from women who want to take part in active travel pursuits on vacation, such as hiking, cycling, and other sports-related activities and adventures. Often this includes traveling as part of a group, including in women-only groups. Adventure travel company Intrepid Travel highlighted a growth in the popularity of all-women adventure groups, with a 37% growth in 2024. This is part of a general trend, including the aforementioned “friendtrips,” toward group travel. Condé Nast Traveler also coined the term “herstory” to describe another trend: cultural trips and activities that let people dive into women-focused history and “see the world through a female gaze.”
8. Staying longer
Look for travelers favoring longer stays on vacation in 2025, driven by a desire for more immersive cultural and local experiences while also enjoying time to just kick back and relax. This has also been referred to as “slow travel.” Examples include the continued rise of “skillcations” and other trends mentioned earlier, a desire to experience a destination like a local, and the popularity of train travel as both a means to travel and see more of a destination.
9. Racketeering
“Racketeering,” a trend coined by Globetrender, describes the rising popularity of playing racket sports such as tennis, pickleball and padel while on holiday. As well as being fun activities people want to take part in during their downtime, racket sports is an example of learning a new skill on vacation. Some luxury resorts have built new facilities and offer coaching and tournaments to cater to the popularity of these sports. Tour companies are also getting in on the act: Pickleball in Paradise is an example of a travel company that caters to fans of this growing sport.
10. Avoiding the crowds
Expedia’s 2025 travel trends report calls the trend toward seeking out less well-known, and therefore less crowded, destinations “detour destination” travel. These include places that are an easy side-trip from more popular destinations, such as Reims in France (from Paris), Brescia in Italy (from Milan), and Cozumel in Mexico (from Cancun). Tour operators can cater to this trend by offering add-on tours or adding less well-known locales to their destination list. Less crowded destinations can offer that relaxation and de-stressing element many travelers seek, while also providing a rewarding holiday to somewhere different.
11. JOMO and soft travel
Move over “FOMO” (Fear of Missing Out) and the hectic itinerary that often results from it. It’s time for “JOMO,” the Joy of Missing Out. Instead of working through a list of “must-see” attractions and experiences, many travelers in 2025 want to visit more serene, calming destinations, such as a remote cabin or restful beach house, to disconnect and relax. JOMO is part of a broader trend toward “soft travel” that includes things like “forest bathing” to connect with nature, and “digital detox” trips to disconnect with modern life.
12. Time travel
We first highlighted “nostalgia travel” in our 2022 trends report, and it’s still a hit with travelers who want to get away by looking or going back. The 2025 Hilton Trends report highlighted how some hotels are offering themed accommodations and experiences to cater to this trend, such as the Aladdin’s Times Square Palace suite in New York. And Condé Nast Traveler reported how Pan American World Airways is re-launching with a 12-day transatlantic journey in 2025, offering travelers a taste of the golden age of air travel. Other nostalgia-fueled experiences could simply involve revisiting the scenes of happy memories, such as childhood holiday and honeymoon destinations. Globetrender called this trend, especially popular with middle-aged Millennials, “New Heydays.” During what could be a volatile 2025, vacationing in the past could be a popular way to get away from it all.
13. “Goccassions” and sports tourism
Travelers in 2025 will still want to combine their love of a particular sport or sports team with their passion for travel. The Business Research Company projected the global sports tourism market to grow from $583.14 billion in 2024 to $649.73 billion in 2025. A sporting or other event can provide a reason for people to visit a particular location, even if they don’t have tickets, to sample the atmosphere and explore the sights. In travel circles, these trips are sometimes called “goccassions.” Other major sports events in 2025 include the UEFA Women’s Championship (soccer) in Switzerland, the Africa Cup of Nations (soccer) in Morocco, and the IAAF World Championships (athletics) in Japan.
14. Gigtripping
Another type of gocassion is a travel trend that has been music to the ears of the travel industry for a couple of years now: “gigtripping.” For example, “swifties” flocked to cities hosting Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour during 2024. CN Traveler called this the Swift Effect, as people travel to one-off gigs to see their favourite performer, as well as to established (e.g., Glastonbury in the UK and Coachella in the US) and new (e.g. Untold in Romania) multi-day music festivals. It’s yet another example of the broader trend of travelers seeking more immersive and memorable experiences during their vacation time.
15. Quiet travel and “calmcations”
Not everyone is looking for a transformational outcome from their vacation; many simply want to unwind and enjoy some quality “me time.” Continuing on from the 2023 and 2024 trends that saw more and more people wanting to unplug and recover from a busy world, we now have “calmcations.” These are holidays and quiet escapes that encourage travelers to leave their devices at home and embrace a quieter, unplugged approach to vacationing. This could include spending time immersed in nature to enhance physical, mental, and emotional well-being or even renting a tech-free cabin to hide away from all the digital and other noise for a while.
16. Coolcations and “not so hot” spots
In the wake of rising temperatures and an increase in the number and intensity of wildfires in parts of North America, Europe and around the world, keeping cool is still likely to be top of mind for many travelers in 2025. Even among those who typically seek out the sun for their vacation. This has seen a trend toward people seeking out “not so hot” spots for their summer break. The BBC reported how one travel company saw a large increase in bookings to cooler countries like Finland and Norway during 2024. The desire to stay cool can even extend to the “noctourism” trend mentioned above, as nighttime activities can offer an escape from the heat during the day.
These are just a selection of travel business trends for 2025 that could open up new opportunities for your tour business. Here are a few suggestions for how you could take advantage of them in your travel business.
How to take advantage of innovative tourism business ideas
In an ever-evolving landscape of travel and tourism, the trends for 2025 reflect a desire for authenticity, sustainability, and immersive experiences. From eco-conscious adventures to culinary escapades and everything in between, travelers are spoilt for choice when it comes to exploring the world in new and exciting ways. Embracing these trends promises to enrich the travel experience and create lasting memories for adventurers of all kinds.
The key to taking advantage of these innovative tourism business ideas and other tourism industry trends is to always be thinking of your next profitable business opportunity. Here are a few ways to keep on top of what’s new and interesting in the travel business:
Maintain an ideas file
Include those “out there” trends that seem absurd the first time you hear them. Think about some recent innovations that would have been dismissed with a laugh not that long ago: Self-driving cars, passenger space travel, drone deliveries… Even that Holy Grail of futuristic inventions, the personal jetpack, is getting closer to reality. All but the most outlandish trends are worth tracking in case there’s a germ of an idea for a new business opportunity in there.
Listen to your audience
Hang out in online travel discussion forums, on social media, and in other places where travelers gather to swap notes and ideas or express needs and dreams. You might uncover a new business idea no-one else has come across yet.
Follow your competitors
Monitor what your direct competitors and others in the tourism business are up to. Subscribe to every industry newsletter you can, including those of your competitors, to keep up with emerging trends and help with your business idea generation.
Solicit customer feedback
Be proactive in asking your customers for feedback. Don’t just ask them what they liked and didn’t like about their experience with your company; ask them if there’s anything they would like to do that they currently can’t.
Invest in the right booking system
It goes without saying that every tour operator should offer online booking and take a mobile-first approach. Not doing both of those things makes taking advantage of the above trends very difficult. The customer experience starts the moment they enter your website. Online booking enables them to easily browse, book, and pay for tours anytime and from is anywhere. Learn more about how Rezgo’s booking software is tailor-made for adventure companies.
At Rezgo, we always have our ear to the ground when it comes to the latest tourism trends and business opportunities. Rezgo’s booking software is a comprehensive platform that enables you to become a more profitable business. It can also help you future-proof your business so you can develop and grow as the tourism industry changes. Book a demo or sign up for free and start using Rezgo today!
Written By | Rob Mathison
