Where are We Going in 2025?
The top places and trends travel experts predict will dominate this year
Thanks for reading The Carry On! I’m sending everyone good wishes for a Happy New Year, and lots of (extraordinary/adventurous/restorative/life-affirming) travel in 2025.
I don’t put a lot of stock in New Year’s resolutions, probably because decades into making them, I don’t have a stellar track record for keeping them. In recent years, though, I’ve shifted to New Year’s intentions — goals I’m setting, dreams I’m putting into the universe for the coming year.
Last December, my intentions included exploring two places I’d never been, one in the U.S. and one international. At home, that was Milwaukee and Madison Wisconsin and New Orleans (a place no one could believe I hadn’t been, myself included.) Abroad, I traveled to Indonesia, Croatia, Montenegro, and Australia.
I’m still pondering next year’s travel dreams, whether it’s a specific place, an experience, or a person I want to travel with or visit. In the meantime, I’m reading up on the destinations and trends experts are predicting will dominate travel in 2025. Read on for a few, from set-jetting to sleep tourism, and share in the comments where you want to go this year. I’m hoping that you get there!
1. Buzzy Destinations
Thanks in part to the White Lotus effect (see below), Thailand is bracing for an influx of tourism in 2025. Other top global destinations, according to the 2025 Virtuoso Luxe Report, include Italy, Greece, France, Japan, and Croatia. The report, which is informed by Virtuoso’s network of luxury travel advisors, also points to Portugal, Antarctica, Iceland, Norway, and Morocco as destinations on the rise. Cold weather locales are also hot right now (sorry) as travelers seek to avoid both increasingly sweltering temps and bigger crowds. And based on nothing except vibes and insights from travel industry friends, I’ll add to that list Albania and Slovenia.
2. Culinary Travel
The 2025 Hilton Trends Report reveals that food remains a strong travel motivator. (It’s always been mine!) According to the report, “After accommodations, dining experiences are the next highest travel budget priority in 2025.” Also: 50% of global travelers book restaurant reservations before their flight, and 60% of luxury travelers prioritize booking hotels with great restaurants.
How to go: Check out my month-by-month culinary adventure guide in the Points Guy. I’m eyeing up a Tomato Festival in the Loire Valley or an Oyster Festival in Scotland. Or book a tour with Cheese Journeys for the ultimate cheese lovers’ immersion in Italy, France, Switzerland, or England.
3. Slow Travel
With the ongoing ability to work remotely (introducing us, whether we like it or not, to terms like workcations and bleisure travel), travelers are favoring longer stays that allow them “to immerse themselves in local cultures, support small businesses, and explore authentic, lesser-known destinations rather than overcrowded hotspots,” says Joshua Schaeffer, general manager at The Joule in Dallas, Texas.
“We foresee continued interest in slow travel and multi-sensory, immersive experiences,” adds Marcel Kloet, general manager at Dorado Beach, a Ritz-Carlton Reserve. The luxury resort in Puerto Rico offers things like cooking classes featuring local ingredients and guided ecological tours that allow for deeper connection with the natural surroundings, which “foster not only memorable stays but also a sense of purpose and personal enrichment,” he says.
The 2025 Hilton Trends Report also calls out Slow Travel, noting that 74% of travelers want recommendations from locals when traveling, and 65% of parents “often prioritize learning about their culture or family background through their travels with their kids.”
How to go: get your advice from locals: Erica Firpo’s guide to Venice or Rome, Lindsey Tramuta’s guide to Paris, Katie Parla’s guide to Rome, Sian Parry’s guide to London, Britt Moore’s guide to Lisbon, + Linda Sarris’s guide to Pantelleria.
4. Wellness and Sleep Tourism
As technology has all but ensured we’re never really out of office, travelers seeking wellness (and specifically, better sleep) are on the rise. Hilton’s report notes that 70% of luxury travelers choose hotels with sleep-centric amenities, which can include anything from pillow menus and slumber kits with eye masks and herbal teas to personalized sleep coaches. Kloet, the GM at Dorado Beach, a Ritz-Carlton Reserve, adds that the concept of ‘longevity travel’ resonates with guests “as they increasingly seek healthy, creative dining options and immersive activities promoting overall well-being.”
How to go: Book a trip to Sweden, a sleep tourism champion with cool, clean air, long winter nights, and plentiful nature.
5. Set-Jetting and You Tell Me Travel
This year I learned that in some cases, the teens are driving family travel destination decisions based on what they’re seeing on TikTok. (My 80s-kid brain can hardly fathom it.) The Virtuoso Luxe Report says the platform “remains a powerful influence, delivering rapid-fire clips of destinations previously overlooked,” and adds that inspiration is also coming in the form of books, documentaries, and films.
The latter has been coined “Set-Jetting” or planning travel based on popular filming destinations of a show or movie. Since the second season of The White Lotus was filmed in Sicily, the Southern Italian island has had a surge of visitors, and the same goes for Dubrovnik, Croatia after Game of Thrones and (I’m so sorry to report), certain locales in Paris that were filming destinations from Emily in Paris.
How to go: Book a room at the Hôtel Plaza Athénée, where the Haute Couture suite makes an appearance in season one, or just stop in for a drink at the hotel’s Le Bar, which is also a backdrop in the same episode.
I love concept of sleep tourism lol. I met someone once who told me he would book vacations just to sleep.