The top trends for 2025: These predict the future of travel

The world is becoming more and more connected: This is also changing the way we travel – and our ideas about the perfect break. This becomes clear in the latest travel trend report that the travel app Expedia and the holiday home platform FeWo-direkt published together. Insights into the trends that will shape 2025 are based on an analysis of internal data and a global survey of more than 25,000 travelers.

In 2025 it will no longer be about checking off as many countries as possible or simply visiting popular hotspots. Rather, travelers are looking for authentic experiences that satisfy their curiosity, enable conscious retreat and offer more than an ordinary vacation. These are the most important travel trends for 2025: Detour Destinations, Goods Getaways, JOMO Travel, The Phenomena-List and Set-Jetting.

Traveling on detours: detour destinations

In 2025, travel lovers will be looking for new ways to spend their valuable, yet limited, vacation time. According to the current survey, this is where the new Detour Destinations trend comes into play. 63 percent of travelers are now happy to take detours in order to have authentic experiences away from well-known places and large tourist crowds. In this new way, a vacation to popular destinations like Paris or Barcelona is combined with visits to lesser-known places nearby. Instead of just taking a city trip to Paris, the journey suddenly takes you to Reims, or from Barcelona to the charming city of Girona.

What’s particularly exciting about this trend is that many Detour destinations serve as starting points from which the big cities are only visited afterwards. In this way, intensive travel experiences and visits to well-known highlights can be cleverly combined. Places like Brescia in Italy (Detour from Milan), Fukuoka in Japan (Detour from Tokyo) or Santa Barbara in California (Detour from Los Angeles) are very popular – they are not only more relaxed, but also offer a new perspective on the country and People. These “detours” are worth it: those who leave the main tourist routes discover what is special behind the well-known, often overcrowded holiday destinations.

Gen Z shops differently on vacation: Goods Getaways

DIY sweets from Japan, innovative skincare products from South Korea or viral chocolate from Dubai: shopping tourism is changing – especially due to the travel behavior of Generation Z. Young travelers no longer primarily dream of shopping in London, Paris or New York Buy clothes and accessories. Instead, the focus is on metropolises such as Dubai, Tokyo and Seoul – and the trend products available there. To achieve this, Gen Z is happy to take long flights.

According to the survey, 55 percent of Gen Z worldwide have chosen a travel destination based on a trending product. This trend is also evident in Germany: 53 percent of young travelers say that special products play a role in their choice of travel destination. The Goods Getaways are also enjoying growing popularity among age groups. For 44 percent of travelers worldwide and 46 percent of Germans, the search for such specialties is now more important than classic holiday activities such as visits to museums.

The joy of missing out: JOMO Travel

Consciously enjoy quiet moments, follow your own needs, seek out places of retreat that promise rest and relaxation: This important travel trend for 2025 promotes the joy of missing out. JOMO (Joy of Missing out) is the countermovement to FOMO (Fear of Missing out), which often arises from social media.

According to the survey, 85 percent of travelers worldwide want a relaxing holiday in a holiday home without having to worry about missing out on something important. Younger travelers in particular long to relax and unwind away from spectacular destinations and breathtaking experiences. Over 60 percent of those surveyed believe that this type of travel can reduce stress and anxiety and expect everything to be more relaxing.

With the JOMO Travel trend, however, it’s all about the right accommodation and its location. With this trend, holiday homes with a pool, a cozy garden or a whirlpool are at the top of the wish list. Many dream of a house on the beach or a secluded lake as well as a chalet in the mountains.

Rare natural spectacles: The phenomena list

Experience a rare natural spectacle up close: This wish will also shape the travel trends in 2025. The fascination with phenomena such as the Perseids, the midnight sun or the glow of the sea is increasing the demand for holiday homes that offer a special view of the fleeting wonders of nature. According to the global survey, 84 percent of travelers want a vacation of this special kind.

The most sought-after phenomenon in 2025 will remain the fascinating spectacle of the Northern Lights, which 61 percent of travelers have on their bucket list. Closely followed by geological and volcanic phenomena as well as the midnight sun. The closer the accommodation is to the natural spectacle, the better. 80 percent attach great importance to staying overnight right where the event is happening.

A journey into the world of your favorite series: set jetting

This trend from recent years is now so popular that it will continue to shape travel behavior in 2025: set jetting. The 2023 travel trend survey already made it clear that it is becoming increasingly popular to travel to the filming locations of famous films and series. Two thirds of travelers worldwide have been influenced by film or TV productions when planning their trip. In Germany, more people are inspired by films and series than by social media platforms such as Facebook, Instagram or TikTok.

For 2025, Expedia and FeWo-direkt have created a forecast for particularly popular set jetting destinations that are inspired by upcoming film and series releases: New York for “And Just Like That…” – here the third season was announced for 2025; Cape Town for “One Piece” – the second season will be released in 2025; Scotland for the BBC series The Traitors, which will be shown from January 2025; Montana and Wyoming for new episodes of “Yellowstone”; and Dubai for “The Real Housewives of Dubai,” whose third season is also scheduled to debut sometime in 2025.

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