Instead, the outlook is optimistic — even with ongoing violence in the Middle East, the war in Ukraine and overtourism concerns. Tour operators, consortia executives and travel advisors are looking forward to continued revenue growth and are excited for new products. And enthusiasm about lesser-known destinations is overwhelming
Although no one interviewed for this story has a crystal ball — and warnings were made about the difficulties of forecasting the future — it appears that many in the industry are ready to turn the page on past concerns as they look ahead to 2025.
Trend 1: Baby Boomers Are Spending Their Kids’ Inheritances
Jack Richards, president and CEO of Pleasant Holidays, says that the company is seeing big bookings coming from baby boomers.
“They are spending the most, they’re traveling the most and, if you want my opinion, they’re not going to leave any money to their kids,” Richards said with a big laugh. “They’re spending it on travel, and they’re going big.”
They are spending the most, they’re traveling the most and, if you want my opinion, they’re not going to leave any money to their kids.
And this phenomenon is not exclusive to Pleasant: Booking.com described a growing interest among some parents for Spending Kids’ Inheritance (aka “SKI”) trips in its 2025 Travel Predictions report released last month.
According to the company’s data — which was based off an online survey conducted during July and August this year that polled more than 27,000 global travelers — 49% of baby boomer respondents would rather spend money on a trip of a lifetime in 2025 than leave an inheritance to their children.
Tracy Anderson, general manager for TravelStore in San Diego, is also optimistic that 2025 will be a good year for her business, thanks in no small part to her many baby boomer clients.
Credit: 2024 Abercrombie & Kent
“After the pandemic, they just went crazy,” Anderson told me with a chuckle. “They were like, ‘You know what, I was stuck here for a whole year. And I’m going to just go because you never know what’s going to happen. I’m going to go and fulfill my complete bucket list.’ And that’s what they’ve been doing ever since.”
Richards notes that Pleasant Holidays is seeing its year-over-year projected revenue growth slow some in contrast to the massive jumps in 2022 and 2023, but the tour operator still anticipates total business to increase somewhere between 4% and 6% in 2025.
Trend 2: Big Changes in Air Seats Will Impact Airfares
Adam Armstrong, CEO of Contiki, says his company is already seeing airfares drop for flights between Eastern U.S. cities such as New York, and European hubs such as Paris, London and Amsterdam.
“Airlines are bringing more capacity online, more planes are coming out and they are opening up some of the routes again that they didn’t operate coming out of COVID-19,” Armstrong said. “So, there are more routes available, there are more planes flying and there’s more competition, which drives down prices.”
So, there are more routes available, there are more planes flying and there’s more competition, which drives down prices.
Armstrong says airfares play a pronounced role in Contiki’s price-sensitive 18- to 35-year-old market, and in past years, the cost of flights was often higher than the tour operator’s total package price for popular European destinations.
“We’ve seen that rebalance, and the airfare has come down a bit below the price of the tour again,” Armstrong said.
Credit: 2024 monticellllo/stock.adobe.com
Pleasant Holidays’ Richards is also expecting air seat capacity increases to lead to lower airfares in 2025, particularly in Europe.
“We’ve talked to our airline partners — United Airlines, Delta Air Lines, American Airlines, Air France, you name it — and there is going to be a record number of airline seats to Europe during 2025,” Richards said. “There is no question about it. And any time the airlines add this much capacity to Europe, prices tend to come down.”
Ignacio Maza, senior advisor for Signature Travel Network, notes that some of those additional air seats are headed for intriguing destinations.
“United just launched nonstop service from Newark, New Jersey, to Marrakech, Morocco,” Maza said. “Marrakech is a wonderful destination, but it has always had the challenge that it was a little hard to get to because you had to go to Madrid, Paris, Portugal or Casablanca and change planes. The new nonstop from Newark makes getting there much easier.”
Credit: 2024 e55evu/stock.adobe.com
Maza also mentioned Delta Air Lines’ plan to launch nonstop service between New York’s JFK International Airport and Catania International Airport on the Italian island of Sicily next spring, as well as Fiji Airways’ new nonstop flight between Dallas and Nadi, slated to debut in December this year
“These new services are going to open up some very interesting opportunities for travel advisors,” he said.
Trend 3: Solo Travel Is Becoming More Mainstream, Especially Onboard
According to a Skyscanner report released last month, 62% of the 2,000 American respondents surveyed in August said they plan to take between two and five solo trips within the next year. And while that same Skyscanner survey found that “the solo traveler population is almost evenly divided between men and women,” Signature’s Maza notes that men and women tend to approach solo vacations differently.
Credit: 2024 neonshot/stock.adobe.com
“Everybody is different, but from everything I have read, women are more curious and more intrepid,” Maza told me. “And men traveling solo like to go to places that they are familiar with, maybe to play golf or do something they have done before.”
Sasha Andrews, director of industry sales for North America for Exodus Adventure Travels, said solo travel is an increasingly important part of her company’s business.
Everybody is different, but from everything I have read, women are more curious and more intrepid.
“We’ve seen a significant increase in solo bookings,” Andrews said. “In fact, a major portion of our travelers now join trips as solo adventurers.”
Andrews notes that Exodus’ small-group products aim to offer guests a healthy balance between independence and community, one that provides “solo female travelers seeking safety and convenience the ability to step into an existing trip framework and travel with confidence.”
Maza mentioned that the cruise industry is also increasingly interested in solo traveler business.
“Some 13 years ago, there was only one ship that had a dedicated cabin for solo travelers,” he said. “Today, there are more than 75 ships, and more are being built with dedicated cabins for solo travel.”
Credit: 2024 Abercrombie & Kent
Maza offered Abercrombie & Kent’s (A&K) new Pure Amazon riverboat as an example. It is scheduled to launch next summer in Peru.
“It’s the most luxurious ship to sail the Amazon River, and it only has 12 staterooms,” he told me. “Two of those staterooms will be solo-traveler-dedicated cabins.”
Trend 4: New and Notable Travel Products: A Culinary Cruise, Luxury Safari Camps and an Albania Tour
Another new vessel set to debut in 2025 is Oceania Cruises’ eighth ship, the 1,200-guest Allura, scheduled to launch next summer in the Mediterranean. Nikki Upshaw, Oceania’s senior vice president of global sales, told me her company has also teamed up with Food & Wine magazine for several specialty culinary cruises next year.
Credit: 2024 Oceania Cruises
“One cruise will have Food & Wine’s best new chefs, featuring the new chefs and special menus,” Upshaw said. “The idea is to offer an exciting, new, fresh take from the culinary scene while innovating and providing something brand new to travelers.”
Stefanie Schmudde, A&K’s senior vice president of global product strategy, notes that her company will not only be launching the new Pure Amazon riverboat next year, but will also unveil enhanced luxury and immersive experiences at the tour operator’s Sanctuary Gorilla Forest Camp in Uganda and Sanctuary Baines Camp in Botswana.
Schmudde added that the luxury operator expects to see a noteworthy boost to its business in Egypt next year, thanks in part to the soft opening last month of the Grand Egyptian Museum.
“The fact that this beautiful museum is finally opening is going to help draw attention to what is already an incredible destination,” Schmudde said, adding that she enjoyed a behind-the-scenes tour earlier this year. “It’s so well done. The artifacts are amazing to witness, and they’ve just done an incredibly great job of giving each key piece of history a way to stand on its own.”
Credit: 2024 Contiki
And Contiki’s Armstrong told me his company recently started selling a brand-new Albania tour product that will debut in the summer of 2025.
“Albania is like Croatia seven or eight years ago,” Armstrong said. “It is less developed — just one airport. It’s cheaper and has the same beautiful beaches and the same friendly people.”
Trend 5: Europe and Japan Still Rule, but Destination Dupes and Emerging Destinations Are Having a Big Moment
Every tourism stakeholder I spoke with told me Europe will be off-the-charts busy in 2025. Most mentioned that travelers thinking about trips to high-demand destinations there — even if they are visiting over traditional shoulder seasons — should already be busy booking.
People say the world is getting smaller. I disagree. I think the world keeps getting bigger and bigger — there are more destinations, more experiences and more ways to see the world. We just have to think up and out as we look into 2025.
The same is true about Japan, a destination that will likely continue its extremely high-demand streak. And several travel professionals said they’re seeing very solid bookings already for Australia and New Zealand in 2025.
Perhaps not surprisingly, those discussions swiftly turned to talk about lesser-known and emerging vacation destinations, where travelers might avoid overtourism and crowding frustrations.
In fact, Contiki found in its 2024 Voice of a Generation report — which surveyed 1,000 Americans ages 18 to 35 in July — that 80% of the respondents planned to skip mainstream vacation hubs and opt for destination dupes, such as the Philippines, next year.
Credit: 2024 nathanallen/stock.adobe.com
Signature’s Maza noted that while Italy will be extraordinarily busy in 2025, even that destination can provide flexible travelers with less-crowded alternatives.
“Instead of Capri, for example, how about Ischia, which is an island that’s much bigger,” Maza said. “It’s only 45 minutes away by ferry. It’s beautiful and the beaches are much better. I mean, this is where the Italians go."
Maza did say, of course, that advisors really need to understand what their clients want, adding that some vacationers will still want Capri during the busy high season and nothing else will do.
“But if they are flexible, that opens a lot of possibilities, where you can offer alternative destinations,” he told me. “People say the world is getting smaller. I disagree. I think the world keeps getting bigger and bigger — there are more destinations, more experiences and more ways to see the world. We just have to think up and out as we look into 2025.”
Tags: Sasha Andrews, Exodus Adventure Travels, Stefanie Schmudde, AandK’s, Ignacio Maza, Signature Travel Network, Nikki Upshaw, , Contiki