From slow travel to customized experiences, these are the travel trends to watch for in 2025. Plus, Eastern Europe is gaining popularity.
Luxury Travel Forecast
Big Five Tours & Expeditions’ 2025 luxury travel trends and top destinations, based on travel advisor booking data, points to emerging trends that reflect a shift in how travelers plan, engage and experience the world, with more travelers embracing immersive and sustainable practices.
For the coming year in travel, Big Five Tours & Expeditions has identified four key trends shaping luxury travel, including what they’re calling “ethnimpact.” Travelers are seeking more authentic cultural exchanges and are looking to embrace their beliefs in social responsibility. Big Five points to such experiences as private artisan and maker tours in Medellin, culinary adventures with up-and-coming chefs in Cape Town, and interactions with local communities. Another key trend is the “rise of intentionalism,” wherein travelers prioritize eco-conscious choices. Big Five emphasizes high-end accommodations and experiences that support environmental preservation and community development, ensuring guests can travel responsibly while still indulging in comfort.
Across the travel landscape, travel advisors are seeing travelers moving away from rapid itineraries, opting instead for offgrid, removed and remote voyages…in other words, “slow travel.” This allows your clients to fully immerse themselves in each location, with fewer destinations on the itineraries and extended stays.
And many clients are finally walking away from those very short lead times we saw right after the pandemic. Big Five calls this “aheadcations,” with guests planning as far out as Q3 2026.
“Currently, most of our guests are booking between three to six months in advance, with a growing trend towards planning a year out. We have some guests planning for travel in Q1 2025, and some guests planning for travel Q3 2026. This is an ongoing trend toward seeing longer lead times as we head into the new year,” says Ashish Sanghrajka, President of Big Five Tours & Expeditions, in a press release statement. “While geo-political and economic uncertainty exists, including in our own backyard, demand remains strong. There has been a paradigm shift, away from making up for lost time, to creating new time with purpose. We are no longer in revenge travel mode. We’re in responsible travel mode, a space we call home.”
Big Five’s top 10 destinations for 2025 are located around the globe, but the emphasis is on exploring deeper. For example, you can recommend Big Five’s programs in Peru that go beyond Machu Picchu, or combining Argentina, a top destination, with lesser-visited Paraguay. In Chile, also on the top 10, there are rugged adventures awaiting as well as refined eco-luxury lodges. Also in South America, Big Five sees Colombia growing even more popular, with Brazil also making the top 10 list.
Jumping over to Africa, Big Five puts the focus on Kenya, where travelers are seeking to connect with the culture and people; as well as South Africa, where Big Five offers unique experiences that take your clients into the lesser known. Big Five includes two other African countries on its list—Tanzania and Egypt—rounding it out with a destination in Asia: Japan.
Travel Trends List Points to Japan’s Rise in Popularity
A new advisory survey from TRAVELSAVERS and NEST envisions a travel landscape with fresh destinations rising to the fore and trends that provide more personalization and purpose for vacationers.
Although Italy and Portugal remain quite popular for 2025, there’s a rise in interest in Eastern Europe—ranked second in the top up-and-coming destinations category—that shows the growing appetite for the road less traveled. Japan topped the up-and-coming list, rising from number three in last year’s survey. South Africa, Morocco and Antarctica also placed in the top five.
“People today aren’t collecting material goods—they’re collecting experiences,” said Chief Marketing Officer Nicole Mazza, in a press release statement. “You can’t put a price tag on the lifetime memories that travel creates. Savvy travelers are working with expert advisors more often to craft deeply personal and unforgettable journeys.”
Bucket-list travel was named the top emerging trend, with travelers yearning to book trips of a lifetime. It was followed by personalized experiences, off-the-beaten-path exploration, authentic travel and home-style accommodations.
“In 2025, travelers will choose their journeys very deliberately,” Mazza said. “Travel will reflect their unique goals and dreams, whether it’s challenging themselves physically, deepening cultural understanding, or simply recharging.”
Included among the evolving niches for 2025 are: “family festivities,” which translates to journeys with loved ones where travelers opt to book home-style accommodations to unite everyone under one roof; a “new wave of cruising,” with Millennials and Gen Z hitting the high seas (non-traditional cruise destinations like Colombia and Egypt are trending, as well as coolcations to Alaska and Antarctica); “tailored-to-you trips,” wherein travelers are breaking the mold seeking bespoke adventures that align with their passions (think a cooking class in Lima or viewing the Northern Lights); and “emerging Europe,” with a focus on the aforementioned Eastern European destinations such as Prague, Krakow and the Baltic countries.
