2025 Travel Trends

2025 Travel Trends

December 2024

As a Travel Advisor, I am a member of many organizations and groups. I also review many trade publication and vendor materials.

This is a simple and quick article to let you see what I see for trends in 2025 travel.

Most Popular Cruises: The industry states that 38% (worldwide) of all cruises booked have destinations in the Caribbean and Latin America. [Ref: 2025 Guide to Ocean and River Cruising]
Immersive Travel: 25% of travelers surveyed want to spend time fully immersed in the local culture. [Ref: Hilton’s 2025 Trends Report]
Sleep Vacations: 25% of travelers are looking to lounge in bed, while 25% will book a spa or wellness treatment to enhance their sleep. [Ref: Hilton’s 2025 Trends Report]
Unplugged: 24% of global travelers said they are disconnecting from social media more than they used to during vacations. [Ref: Hilton’s 2025 Trends Report]
Pet-Loving Solo: Individual travelers often vacation with their pets – 20% more than the average traveler. [Ref: Hilton’s 2025 Trends Report]
Frolleagues: 30% of respondents often travel with friends who are also colleagues on their leisure trips. [Ref: Hilton’s 2025 Trends Report]
Foodies: 25% of global leisure travelers seek out vacations providing new culinary experiences, with 50% booking their restaurant reservations prior to traveling. [Ref: Maura Lee Byrne, VP and Group Publisher]
Dry Vacations: 25% of travelers have either stopped or moderated drinking alcohol. [Ref: Maura Lee Byrne, VP and Group Publisher]
Vacations with Kids: 58% of respondents who travel with their children plan to return to destinations they visited with their children – and 70% said they were influenced by their children’s preferences, which is why I choose Disney for so many family vacations. In my view, children and travel advisors are the best travel influencers. [Ref: Maura Lee Byrne, VP and Group Publisher]
Economy influences: 2024 was an election year. Without getting into the politics, for whatever reason, my perception is that travelers are wanting to get through the holidays. After that, I perceive that people are wanting to begin spending money on travel again (although 2024 was not a bad year at all). I am booking nice vacations into mid 2025 already. It’s not just cruises. There are a lot of people booking family group theme park vacations. People are booking all-inclusive vacations. Also, people are booking simpler vacations with just airfare and visiting family and friends without doing the expensive accommodations or themes. It’s all over the board. The bottom line is that I perceive people are feeling more confident in the economy, which means they are feeling more free with their discretionary spending, and to begin doing things that they may not have done since 2020. [Ref: Allen Beck, AKOR Services Travel]
Cruises: The new cruise ships, on all lines, are getting bigger with more new features. Most major lines are designing and pumping out new ships as fast as they can, because cruising is popular. There is a pent up demand. It’s trendy (and fun) to cruise. The destinations are amazing. However, the bigger and the newer the ship is, the more expensive the fares are. They must pay for those super ships. As I write this, it is December 2024. This is the time of year that all cruise lines are making great offers to attract cruisers for now through 2025. The special offers are coming out faster than I can publicize them. That’s good for cruisers. Book now if you can. However, let me make my predictions. I predict that the cruise industry will settle out somewhat. Here is what I mean. I believe that eventually, cruisers will get tired of being stuffed into mega ships with 5000-6000 other people. That also puts pressure on the ports that they visit. Some of the new mega ships are already having trouble getting into some ports of call. I also believe that as fast as these mega ships are coming out, there will come a time when there are more cabins available than there are paying cruisers willing to spend those big dollars for the latest and greatest ships. I also believe that there will become a big demand for travelers wanting more personalized experiences. I believe that will ultimately drive down prices on all cruise ships, and it may weed out the less-monetized cruise lines, causing budget/service cuts. I believe the industry may be in for a change. I hope I am wrong. [Ref: Allen Beck, AKOR Services Travel]

Where do you see yourself in the above trends? Have you experienced any of them? Are you planning any for 2025?

Whether you are looking for a personalized experience, a trending experience, or a stateroom on a new mega ship (or a smaller ship), I will make a trip experience for whatever you want. I am good at helping people achieve their dream vacation and helping people make it easy to travel on their regular traveling experience. I am also good at helping businesses, groups and organizations make it easy to travel.

How can I help you today?

Allen Beck
AKOR Services Travel
(503) 427-8553
Allen@akorservices.com