From stargazing to detours: Predicted top travel trends for 2025

Sporting fixtures, a boom in luxury and adding detours to your getaways will feature in travel plans over the next 12 months, says Benjamin Parker. Happy new year, and (as you might expect from a travel editor), I hope you’re passport-deep in travel plans for 2025. At risk of repeating myself, 2024 saw travel disruption in the form of strikes, air traffic control issues, IT meltdowns and weather. But it also brought great adventure and deep-rooted memories for those who did manage to get away – and that, hopefully, can just about make up for any rail, road or air problems.

I’m going to give myself a B+ for my 2024 predictions. Sports proved itself to be a huge motivation to travel, and looks set to do so this year, too. Choosing alternatives to destinations blighted by overtourism was popular, rewarding travellers with distinct – and usually less crowded – experiences.

And yes, with the round-up of travel trends comes the return of horrific portmanteaus. I gritted my teeth for ‘coolcation’ in 2024 (another trend that continues into the new year) but I refuse to accept ‘baecation’ – Abta’s term for what most of us would call a couples holiday. Reset-jetters, where you holiday to ‘reset’ mind and body, I’ve just about let slip (but you’ve been warned, Skyscanner).

Here are the trends to keep your eye on this year. Happy travels!. Read more: Exploring deeper and family first – our travel New Year’s resolutions for 2025. Astro-tourism – not holidaying in space but travelling to witness celestial phenomena – has steadily been growing over recent years, and looks set to be a huge driver behind trips in 2025. Also called, rather clunkily, ‘noctourism’, this means good news for dark-sky zones and spots far away from the beaming lights of urban hubs. In fact, a survey by Booking.com reported that 60 per cent of those asked were considering places away from light pollution in order to get a better view of the night sky. And it’s not just the scientific angle that is getting people excited. Astro-tourism is also influenced by the mystical insights of astrology, according to travel search engine SkyScanner, which it says is particularly popular among younger Gen Z and millennials, who are “seeking a sense of connection with the cosmos”. In fact, its research shows that 44 per cent of those aged 25–34 would be interested in using astrology to determine their next trip (though just as effective is closing your eyes and pointing at random on a map).