As we kick off 2025 and IHIF EMEA gets ever closer, Booking.com talked with travelers to understand a recap of their 2024 year in travel and what they are looking forward to in 2025. We conducted research with over 32,000 leisure travelers across 32 countries in January (see methodology at the end of the memo) to understand upcoming trip plans, traveler sentiment, and what travelers are looking forward to in 2025. Below are a few high level highlights and themes.
- Optimism & Relaxation
Despite all that is going on in the world, the majority of global leisure travelers (77%) are still optimistic about traveling in 2025. Maybe travelers are simply optimistic to take a break and relax? Consistent to previous years, relaxation comes in as the number #1 motivation to travel. Matching the relaxation vibe, we fi nd that for almost half of the leisure travelers the most anticipated activities are relaxing by the beach/pool and visiting natural scenery during upcoming 2025 trips.
- Spending & Budgeting
When asked about their budgets, about half of travelers (48%) expect to spend more on travel in 2025 compared to 2024. 41% said they plan to spend the same and 11% say they plan to spend less on travel.
In Europe and North America, the largest reason mentioned for the increased spend is that similar trips are now more expensive.
Additionally when asked about splurges, globally, it is almost unanimous that restaurants are claimed to be the biggest splurge on a trip. This matches that food/local cuisine can in many cases drive selecting a destination for 48% of global leisure travelers. The biggest self proclaimed travel foodies from the research include Hong Kong, Taiwan and Japanese travelers.
- AI & Travel
This wouldn’t be a trends piece, without addressing AI in travel! We see a broad range of claimed usage across markets, but it is undeniable that it has increased in all countries since last year globally almost 10% vs 2024! One consistency is that the younger generation is more keen to use vs older travelers. Top mentioned use-cases for AI in trip planning include restaurant recommendations (41%), finding an accommodation (40%), activity suggestions (39%), safety information (37%), and discounts/deals (37%).
The majority of leisure travelers that use AI claim it helps them to save time and be more efficient in travel planning (80%).
- Accommodation Choice
When thinking about homes vs hotels what are travelers thinking about? Generally, travelers (⅔) claim to be flexible on the type of accommodation. No matter if planning to stay at a home property or a hotel property, the total price followed by the location are the biggest infl uences of their accommodation decision.
- For hotels, they are additionally favored for the level of cleanliness, amenities, and security.
- For homes, privacy, length of stay, amenities, and space are top highlights.
- Also, don’t discount staying with friends and family, about 20% of travelers plan to stay with someone they know on a trip in 2025!
- Travel Companions
No matter if you are a solo traveler, family, or a couple, Booking.com helps everyone to experience the world. In Travel Trends research we did a deep dive on what various travel groups are looking for. Some highlights include:
- For solo travelers, they most often reported traveling alone because of the freedom to choose their own itinerary. Plus, traveling alone doesn’t always mean spending the trip by themselves, but solo travelers can be eager to meet new people while on holiday. For 2025, declared solo travelers tend to be younger and looking for a solo vacay to relax.
- For couples, they reported relatively smooth sailing with their partner. Although, top pain points are reported include agreeing on a destination, coordinating dates/schedules, and different interests on a trip. Although, we can tell that older travelers are more seasoned with their signifi cant other. A whooping almost 70% report no disagreements with a signifi cant other while traveling vs 17% for Gen Z- what a difference!
- For families, relaxing and spending time together is of utmost importance as the top motivators at 61% and 65% respectively. As well, 85% of global family travelers say that it is important to expose children to a variety of cultures and experiences through travel.
As well as the top 5 discussed above, other key themes from our report are: ‘Travel to Connect’, ‘The Classics Remain, ‘US Specific Domestic Travel’, ‘Travel Worries’, and ‘Not The End Of An Era’.
Keep an eye out on our press releases to see the full report, and we look forward to speaking about this in more detail during IHIF EMEA!