Eight top travel trends for 2024

You’re a well-seasoned traveller with a sense of adventure. But how can you keep things fresh for the family and stay excited about discovering–or revisiting–a destination?

After a careful return to post-COVID travel in 2022, the focus in 2023 was seeking thrills. We journeyed by plane, train, camper van and cruise-ship to tick off items on our globe-trotting bucket-list.

This year, we can expect an emphasis on more meaningful travel moments with family and friends.

Wellness getaways will remain popular, as more of us adopt healthy practices into our daily routine and seek out long-lasting experiences.

And then there’s the role of technology. AI will become more entwined in the overall travel experience, as we prioritise spontaneity over detailed planning.

Let’s take a look at some of the travel trends you can expect to see–or experience–this year.

Bleisure, as the name suggests, is the mixing of travel for both business and pleasure. So, going to one place for a work trip then having friends or family join–either before or after–to explore together.

This trend has been growing in popularity since 2017 but really gained traction in 2023, as people became more adventurous with their post-Covid travel plans.

In fact, it’s becoming so popular that bleisure is soon expected to overtake business travel. Jeanne Liu of the Global Business Travel Association estimates that one in three business travellers will integrate a holiday or leisure aspect to their business trip, worldwide.

Bleisure travellers tend not to change their accommodation, choosing to stay in one place. Hotels, therefore, must now be able to deliver a seamless transition between amenities for work and fun.

More commonly known as “skip-gen travel”, this describes the rising trend of grandparents holidaying with their grandchildren, usually to places that are of sentimental value to them.

With this type of trip, everyone’s a winner! Grandparents can make the most of their retirement and share a special moment with younger generations; parents can make child-free plans with no guilt attached; children can eat more ice-cream and go to bed a bit later!

This niche travel trend is already established in the US and now developing rapidly in the UK. Travel agencies are even creating dedicated itineraries to meet the growing demand. For now, the most popular trips are action-packed safaris and ranch trails. Where can we sign up?

2023 was a successful year for solo travellers, so we can only expect this trend to become more popular in 2024.

A recent survey of female travellers revealed that almost 50% enjoy the feeling of freedom when going it alone. 15% claimed that solo travel was a great challenge that helped them to become more confident.

Travel companies such as Nordic Visitor have quickly understood that solo travellers are also open to meeting new people, offering a wide variety of group tours for those who adventure alone.

Solo travelling appeals to every generation, and invites anyone willing to try to step out of their comfort zone and freely discover the world their own way.

AI can certainly play an important role when it comes to more efficient travel planning. According to Expedia data, around 50% of travellers expressed interest in using AI to plan their holiday in 2023.

This year, get used to AI becoming more useful during your holiday, instead of just using it to enhance the booking experience. Handy features such as live translation can facilitate real-time scenarios, especially as we look to reduce our holiday planning compared to previous years.

For the technophobes out there, AI may play little to no role in your travel adventures. However, for the tech curious, the more sophisticated personalisation features will be of interest. From more precise weather predictions to real-time updates, fraud alerts and better-tailored itinerary suggestions, AI can become your personal and virtual travel assistant.

Travellers are increasingly looking for wellness experiences that last beyond the holiday spa treatment. Millennial holiday goers place a high priority on wellness-focused activities (37%), with rest and relaxation being equally important to adventure and discovery.

From seeking out meaningful connections with nature during holiday to exploring wellness trends such as biohacking, travellers are starting to prioritise feeling good, just as much as looking good.

This focus on health and well-being also extends to the family travel experience. In this post-pandemic world, parents understand better the positive impact of the work/life balance, which prioritises quality time spent with the kids.

Improving your diet is important not just for health reasons but also for environmental reasons. This is something that families can learn and enjoy together, while ensuring that kids are spending time in a safe space.

Holidays that combine adventure alongside well-being–such as yoga or meditation retreats, or culinary-themed trips–are going to be big in 2024.

Gone is the need to micro-plan every minute of your holiday. Spontaneity and surprise are the name of the game this year.

Feeding into the larger travel trends of dupe destinations and off-peak seasons, the post-Covid feeling is less FOMO and more savouring each moment.

Travel agencies like Black Tomato have created Get Lost holiday packages, which allow you to pick your desired environment before letting them take care of the rest. While this type of holiday launched several years ago, there has been a noticeable increase in popularity, post-COVID.

You may be familiar with the popular TikTok trend of “dupes”? It’s when something looks similar to a more expensive alternative, and delivers just as satisfying a result.

When applied to travel, destination dupes are the less pricey–and less crowded– alternatives to tourist-heavy locations.

This trend is predicted to gain more traction in 2024, as holiday-goers seek out more unique experiences at affordable prices, off the beaten track and away from all the selfie sticks.

For example, Taipei instead of Seoul or Valencia as an alternative to Barcelona.

In a recent survey, 69% of travellers were actively looking for sustainable travel options. So, we can only expect the future of travel to become more eco-conscious. While post-pandemic tourism booms, we are also witnessing extreme weather temperatures and natural disasters.

Slow travel and bleisure getaways are two 2024 trends that illustrate a more sustainable way to see the world.

Train travel, and night trains in particular, have seen a surge in popularity. With Eurail and Interrail announcing that their passes can now be used on sleeper trains, we can expect more train travel experiences in 2024. France is making moves to cut out short, domestic flights altogether, as a way to curb carbon emissions. Hopefully, other countries can follow suit.

Travel agencies are also working on carbon labelling, which shows the total carbon footprint of a trip. This will be a helpful tool for those of you actively looking to make more eco-friendly decisions in 2024.

However you decide to travel this year, we wish you only safe and satisfying experiences, shared with the people you care about.