Travel is not just a hobby or a passion, for some, it is a way of life, and for others, it is life itself. As such, it is fluid and subject to change. Trends may come and go, but they reflect something deeper about the going-ons in society. The undercurrents of change in our lives, lifestyles, goals & interests, technological advancements, geopolitics, and popular culture determine how and where we travel. So, let’s dive into Top Travel Trends 2025 and decode how travel is going to change in the foreseeable future, what trends will take hold, and which places travellers will prefer visiting in 2025.
Top Travel Trends 2025
We are on the cusp of some big changes in the travel industry. Owing to rapid e-industrialisation, changing climatic patterns, and overwhelming amounts of cultural exchange due to globalisation, the world is made anew every second, and so is tourism. As Gen Z settles into their 20s and professional lives, and as Gen Alpha starts contributing to trendsetting and travelling, we predict the following travel trends will reflect in various travellers’ desires and bucket lists in the upcoming year.
- Cosmic Events
- Following The Music
- Nature Retreats
- Move South
- Travel Tech
- Vintage Voyaging
- Train Hopping
- JOMO Travel
1. Cosmic Events
Image Credit: Kristian Pikner for Wikimedia Commons
You don’t need to be an astrophysicist to be interested in celestial bodies. Most poets have been stargazers and moon-eyed wanderers. Also, with Gen Z reviving the interest in astrology and star-charts, tracking constellations and experiencing once-in-a-lifetime cosmic events have been on everyone’s radars and bucket lists. The universe is the great unknown and invites a lot of curiosity. Further, its beauty, which lies in entropy, is vast and beyond comparison. Many have already travelled to Scandinavian countries to see phenomena like the Northern Lights, which were also seen in a lot of global northern countries including Canada, the UK, and the USA.
Due to increased solar storms, the years 2024 to 2026 will be the years of the Aurora, and as such, people can expect to travel from far and wide to witness the magical lights as one of the top travel trends. Other astronomical events that one can keep an eye out for are meteor showers, eclipses, blood moons, comets trailing across the sky, and conjunctions of planets.
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2. Following The Music
The music scene is finally becoming big in India. With easier access to the internet, your fave musicians coming to India for their concerts, and the culture of supporting local indie bands and visiting boiler rooms and DJ sets gaining prominence, music tourism is bigger than ever. One can expect people travelling cross-country and domestically to go on mini-vacations to different cities to see their beloved musicians, whether Bollywood, American, or independent artists.
This way, the younger generation is planning more holidays in Mumbai, Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Delhi, etc., and partying, sightseeing, and touring while following the music to the destination of their dreams. With fistfights breaking out over tickets, it is for certain that Gen Z and Alpha are not going to hesitate to spend their buck on a great musical odyssey and that music tourism is going to be one of the defining tourism trends in India in 2025.
3. Nature Retreats
Nature retreats are here to stay. It is one of the tourism trends that’s bound to always co-exist with other trends. With climate change irrevocably changing the world, and worsening global air, water, noise, and e-pollution, most people some time or other feel the urge to get away from society and go sit amidst the lap of nature. Whether it’s the younger generations or the millennials, no one can resist the charm of beautiful hills, valleys, rivers, and forests.
Capitalism and consumerism have made things go to hell, and thus, people have realised the importance of less materialistic, and more holistic travel. The trend of immersive nature retreats will continue to resonate with travellers in 2025 who seek a sanctuary of peace. Such travel heals the spirit and is significant for better mental well-being in this day & age.
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4. Move South
It is often said that whenever the West faces spiritual bankruptcy, it looks to the East to find God’s light again. Increasingly, however, people are realising that the divide between the global North and the global South has been ignored for a long time. The global South countries of Africa, South Asia, and Southeast Asia have a lot of offer, not just in the spiritual sense, but in the technological, the philosophical, and the aesthetic as well. Most travellers have seen the snowy mountains, gothic churches, and technological modernity of the West. Visiting the Central & Latin Americas, Africa, and Asia, their ancient deserts, their pantheism, their traditions & superstitions, their collectivism and their rich cultures is predicted to be the latest travel trends.
5. Travel Tech
The last year has seen tremendous leaps in the field of artificial intelligence. From prosaic generative AI to image & video generation, there are AI solutions to problems which have no answers before. AI has reduced a lot of manual and menial labour and revolutionized all aspects of algorithm making. Your travel needs are going to be now met with AI assistance. Curating the best destinations, in line with your every preference, creating itineraries and planning vacations has never been easier.
With advances in virtual reality and the proliferation of Metaverse, travel is going to take a new fourth dimension in a way it has never seen before. Travelling without moving an inch will be a possibility; if it could be considered real travel on a metaphysical scale is another question. With 5G internet, super speedy WiFis, contactless payments, AI assistants, and NFTs, the face of the travel industry is going to change completely, and quite very soon.
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6. Vintage Voyaging
Shopping while travelling is unavoidable and in fact essential. But sometimes shopping abroad can be a bit costly, and you’d rather spend money on an experience than collect too much unnecessary stuff. Therefore, thrift shopping has risen as a reasonable alternative. Cost-effective and environmentally friendly, thrifting has the power to save the planet. It has become one of the recent trends in tourism in India specifically as the youth has grown to care about sustainability efforts and avoiding over-consumption.
Branded items can be status symbols, but pre-loved materials have character to them. Rather than fast fashion, people are looking to thrift handmade, custom and well-crafted clothes, shoes, bags, furniture and everything else. This way, one can also turn their wardrobes into walking memory closets, bringing one close to different experiences and cultural connections.
7. Train Hopping
You know the saying that goes, “The journey is the destination”? Well, it is true, and more and more travellers are adopting this worldview. One of the ways this is reflected is an increasing preference for train travel rather than aeroplanes. Trains are very comfortable and they are a great social space where interactions with strangers lead to amicable friendships or more. If you are on a trip with friends, nothing can be better than booking a cabin on a train, eating junk food, playing card & board games, and singing masala Bollywood songs together.
The train ride is a beautiful experience in itself. You get acquainted with lots of many places and their landscapes rather than just the ‘to’ and ‘from’ places. At every stop, taste the food & culture of a new region. Train hopping is thus going to be a trend in India welcomed by many.
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8. JOMO Travel
The last prediction on our list of all the top travel trends 2025 is what has been recently termed as JOMO travel. JOMO stands for the Joy of Missing Out. As opposed to FOMO, the fear of missing out, JOMO asks for introspection, and valuing what is truly important. This last trend may defeat the purpose of looking at travel trends because it asks you to not focus on what is trendy or hip, but what is real and raw instead. Taking joy in missing out on trends and what everyone else is doing is also quite important, as it teaches you to be an individual in yourself and not follow the world blindly in a rat race.
As such, tourists have begun preferring following the road less travelled, staying in modest and local homestays instead of lavish hotels with grandiose pools, interacting with locals, camping and trekking in a more self-reliant way, spending time with their families, growing their own veggies, detoxing from social media and internet, and reconnect with nature on longer breaks from ‘civilisation’.
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So, now you know all about what the top travel trends 2025 predicts for an ideal vacation in the coming year. Take inspiration from these, and have a travel experience that changes you from the inside. Adventures aplenty await you so plan a international trip and have the time of your life. We hope this was a helpful resource in helping you decide your travel plans for the upcoming year, but in the end do what your heart desires, for that’s the only way of living your life authentically.
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Cover Image Source : Pxhere
Frequently Asked Questions About Top Travel Trends 2025
What is the travel trend in 2025?
Top travel trends suggest that in 2025, travellers will prefer more holistic experiences over material ones, nature retreats, music tourism, travel for cosmic events, to countries in the global South, train journeys, and vintage thrifting.
What is the future of travel in 2024?
The travel industry is thriving in 2024, with strong growth and profits. Experiential travel and longer vacations will be the trends seen in the upcoming time.
What is the trend in the travel industry?
More regional trips, AI-assisted & curated itineraries with a fresh set of destinations are bound to reach the travel market.
What is the travel trend in 2026?
Online travel, which not just means booking and planning trips with online assistance, but travelling in an online realm with augmented and virtual reality software and tools will rear its head up by 2026.
What is the travel industry in 2030?
By 2030, the travel industry will probably look a lot different than now, but in fundamental ways it will also remain the same, providing experiential trips to travellers with an increasing focus on cultural engagement.
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Abhay Kumar is a graduate of English Literature. Writing is both his hobby and his passion. He writes academic research articles as well as poetry and short fiction. He loves reading science fiction, fantasy, literary fiction, and translated fiction. He also loves traveling and writing about himself in the third person.
