This is the ultimate ‘pulse check’ on where travellers are now and what will be driving them forward for years to come, specific to experiential travel, there were 14 trends identified globally. Scott Wegener, Head of Asia Pacific at Tripadvisor focuses on the top five that were most relevant for South Asia travellers. He shared these while addressing the audience during the opening keynote at ITB India 2025.
With experiential travel now the new normal, from a Trip Advisor perspective, they thought it was really important to look deeper into how this segment is likely to evolve over the coming years. Therefore, they launched the Trip Advisor trendcast this year. They plan to continue to do it every year. Moving forward, it's a global deep dive into the themes and trends emerging from millions of reviews, bookings and traveller forums and discussions.
These aren't just trending destinations, they're broader cultural shifts. They aren't just focused on 2025 they're long-term trends that they expect we are going to see over the next three years. And they are not created by AI. They're powered by real traveller stories, real traveller searches and written traveller data.
1) Written in the Stars, or Spiritual travel
The first trend is what we call Written in the Stars, or Spiritual Travel. Essentially, spiritual experiences are helping more of us find community and a sense of purpose in the universe.
Practices like tarot card readings and horoscopes are no longer at home activities. They're driving travel decisions and reshaping destinations in this now age, spirituality and ancient practices are merging together with modern wellness, feeding our curiosity about worlds seen and unseen.
Spiritual travel is essentially a cross pollination of health, meaning and the desire for connection.
Some examples of how spiritual practices are being embraced by businesses within our industry. The Standard Hotel in London holds monthly Zodiac retreats that match travellers with experiences tailored to their star sign.
The Standard Hotel in the Maldives offers holistic and spiritual treatments, including sound healing and mantra meditation.
One of the Mandarin Oriental properties in Greece has added crystal healing readings to their spa menu that sits alive alongside traditional massages. Even ancient and spiritual sites, sacred sites like Stonehenge and the pyramids now have astrologer led tours, which are rising in popularity.
2) Water Culturalism
Water has always been our happy place, a place for joy and play, but now our connection to water is going deeper, shifting into social playgrounds and adventure frontiers, ancient bathing rituals like hammams’ in Turkey or Onsens in Japan have brought people together for centuries, but that scene is evolving.
In South Korea and China, modern bath houses are becoming the ultimate hangout for Gen Z and millennials.
In China, in a popular bathing house, you can do your water therapy session and then move into the next room to do karaoke, move into the next room to do some gaming, or then move into the next room for a movie night.
Even traditional water activities are becoming reimagined.
Dive operators like the original diving company are transforming underwater adventures. It's no longer just about going as doing a scuba diving tour for half an hour. They are now transforming these adventures into shared conservation missions with the original diving company. You can help plant coral in Philippines, or you can track seahorses in Mozambique, where you can even help build reef highways in Fiji, even holy bathing ceremonies, rituals and festivals are seeing a spike in interest from TripAdvisor South Asia, with particularly with South Asian travellers, take the recent Kumbh Mela in India, or Songkhram in Thailand, have always been very popular festivals to attend by people from within the country, but we are seeing greater interest now from people outside of those countries who want to come and participate and really take in those experiences and understand more about leaning behind them.
3) Slow Going
The next trend is what we're calling Slow Going. Eco conscious travellers are choosing to take the long way more to slow down and enjoy the journey.
The journey itself is the new destination, whether it's taking the scenic train through tree plantations, Misty valleys and rolling hills from Kandy to Ella in Sri Lanka, or taking long tail boats from fishing village to fishing village in southern Thailand, or taking a bicycle tour along the Mekong Delta in Vietnam.
We are trading quick connections for a more unhurried, unbothered experience. It is all about the art of getting there. Slow going allows for cultural, rich connection, organic discoveries and true sustainability. It offers time for reflection, interaction and unhurried appreciation,
of the journey, not just the destination.
4) Investigative Eating
The next trend, investigative travel, is now a delicious investigation into how our food is grown, sourced and prepared farm to table. It is not new, but we're seeing its next evolution, and I think that is the same for most of these trends that I am talking about. They're not necessarily new trends, but they are evolving into even more deep and immersive experiences and activations, and this is what we are seeing with investigative eating.
So farm to table is about taking a look respectfully and getting a first-hand understanding of where the food comes from and how it's made. In Thailand, their largest cattle farm, you can go there and you can do a guided tour see all the animals have the cows, sheep, chickens, etc.
But not only that, you can then go and help on the farm. You can help milk a cow. You can help make ice cream. And then at the end of the day, you can go to their restaurant for a meal at their Steakhouse, where you can enjoy the tender farm raised beef from the farms.
Now that you have just seen those days, a visit here combines agritourism, farm education and a true staycation experience.
5) Nano Neighbourhoods
The last trend is Nano Neighbourhoods. Instead of maxing out our itineraries, travellers are going deeper into single destinations, taking it one block at a time for tourism and a hunger to have a real, authentic experience is driving us to zoom in on single neighbourhoods and even single streets, to find the stuff you cannot get in guidebooks, we are replotting new routes to up and coming areas like Shahpur Jat
in South Delhi, or Assan in Kathmandu, or Jaffna in Sri Lanka. There is a common thread with these three. They all offer tight knit, local driven immersions Market Streets, where visitors can experience crafts, food and heritage, all on a smaller, more personalised scale.
So what to do with this information? What are the takeaways? Well, what can industry leaders do in a rapidly evolving market? Travel Industry leaders who embrace the insatiable appetite for authentic, immersive experiences are going to be best placed for sustainable growth.
You need to help travellers find meaning in your attraction, in your destination, in your business!
