A recent IMG report shows that 42% of travelers prioritize beach vacations, validating our results. But where things differ was in cities; where nearly half of respondents in that survey were looking to urban tourism.
Similarly, TrovaTrip’s data analysis of global travelers also places beach destinations, such as Costa Rica and Bali, among the top choices for 2025, underscoring a broad trend toward relaxing, scenic, and rejuvenating warm-weather coastal experiences.
Diverse Destinations on the Rise
Travelers in 2025 are increasingly eager to explore diverse destinations, both internationally and domestically. Nearly 60% of respondents were planning trips outside of North America, a significant increase from prior years.
Several trends may be impacting this rise:
- Digital nomads: Our survey found that 10% of travelers were planning nomadic trips, often including far-away international locations, for extended periods.
- Off-the-beaten path destinations: Travelers increasingly choose less-crowded alternatives to popular destinations, seeking distinctive and less congested experiences. They are often willing to cross an ocean for a similar experience, especially if pricing is comparable.
- Social media and tech: The influence of social media has driven travelers to new places in recent years. This, along with modern trip-planning technology, like Steller, could propel more travelers to look internationally.
Skift Research similarly found that consumers’ intention to travel internationally is rising rapidly compared to last year, with 72% of people looking to travel abroad this year. And Zeta Data also shows a 160% year-over-year increase in online interest in international travel, especially for higher income individuals and those ages 18-35.
Domestically, classic North American destinations continue to draw interest, including National Parks, Florida beaches, and urban locations like New York City.
Group & Solo Travel Surge in 2025
Group travel, especially with family and friends, is notable in 2025. Over 40% of travelers in our survey were planning romantic or family trips. An additional 21% intended to vacation with friends, underscoring the ongoing popularity of shared travel experiences. This stayed consistent across all destinations.
A survey by Squaremouth found similar results: 47% of travelers were interested in multigenerational or family trips, a 17% increase from 2024, and another 20% planned to travel with friends.
Travel brands can capitalize on these trends by offering flexible, customizable packages that cater specifically to group dynamics and varying preferences.
The inverse here is the increasing interest in solo travel and digital nomad experiences. Our survey showed 17% of travelers planning a solo trip, and another 10% investing in a “digital nomad life.”
Considering that nearly 14% of people in the U.S. work remotely, up from 4.5% in 2014, the continual rise in a nomadic life makes sense. It’s now more possible than ever to see the world.
Value and Flexibility Drive Decisions
Travelers in 2025 are keenly focused on maximizing value from their vacations. One-third of respondents highlighted the appeal of “bundle and save” deals, closely followed by the importance of flexible travel booking options.
Interestingly, survey findings indicated that travelers place a higher value on flexibility than on traditional loyalty or rewards programs. Zeta’s proprietary data tools confirm this, with online interest in “vacation packages and deals” showing as 2.25X as popular as interest in travel rewards.
This makes sense considering the other findings:
- Consumers want to travel more, for less
- Travelers are looking to travel with family and friends, requiring flexibility and cost-savings
- Travel consumers today are savvy, using technology to find new locations, traveling in the cheaper off-peak times, and using points or bundles to save even more
This survey all comes back to one point: Travel brands can effectively respond to these preferences by designing travel bundle deals that provide substantial cost savings while allowing for changes without severe penalties or restrictions, enabling consumers to book with confidence and ease.
5 Tips for Travel Marketers
Now that you understand the survey findings and the trends for 2025, let’s talk about top travel marketing strategies.
Tip 1: Build traveler confidence with flexible policies
Perhaps it’s a carryover from the pandemic, but travelers, more than ever, want flexibility. They want to be able to seamlessly cancel or postpone a trip should their situation change. And they expect to do this without fees, hassle, or lost money.
This is a simple thing for travel brands to adopt. Look at your change or cancel policies and consider whether they build trust with travelers, or if they create unnecessary hassle.
Then you need to clearly communicate these policies, emphasizing traveler-friendly terms like easy cancellation, refunds, or changes. But it’s not just enough to communicate, you need to follow through and actually make the change or cancel process simple. Here are a few common examples:
- Many Airbnb hosts opt for the most flexible cancellation policies, allowing free cancel with full refund up until a week before check-in.
- Many airlines allow travelers to cancel for a full refund within 24 hours of booking a ticket. This is likely intended to increase ticket sales, and remove a barrier to booking, but it’s not a long enough time period to actually be considered valuable to travelers.
- Many state and national parks allow easy cancellations but won’t refund the online booking fee. This is meant to cover costs, while also deterring cancellations. When communicated clearly and obviously, most campers are willing to part with that $10 to get the rest of their funds back.
As we’ll discuss next, savings will help attract and retain travelers too, but being known for your traveler-centric policies will help your brand last for the long term.
Tip 2: Enhance the travel experience with bundles
Bundles are a simple concept but can be quite powerful. For travelers, bundles make things easier, which can make a trip less complicated or stressful, which is especially important for families and groups. For brands, bundles help increase cart sizes, which ultimately means revenue.
Here are a few examples of bundles:
- Transportation: When booking at a remote, tropical beach resort, the traveler is given an option to book private transportation as well, which includes airport pickup, ferry tickets, and a ferry-to-hotel transfer via golf cart. The traveler only books one thing (and pays one fee) for all these steps. If there’s a delay, everyone is automatically notified.
- Inclusions: When booking a cruise or all-inclusive resort, there are often additional packages you can add on at any time. This might be food or beverage upgrades, room upgrades, packages based on events, like an anniversary, entertainment like arcade packages, and outside excursions, like entry to parks or attractions. While it may not be cheaper to bundle these things, it adds a level of convenience to the traveler who doesn’t have to make decisions or payments while on the trip.
- Travel agency: When booking through an agency, you often have the option of booking air, hotel, car rental, transfers, and more all within one transaction. This offers maximum convenience to travelers, especially on more complicated bookings.
But there’s a right and wrong way to approach bundles. The main thing is that many consumers will perceive bundles to be less flexible than booking things individually. And often they are; you need to build your bundles where one change will trigger changes with the rest of the items in a bundle.
Consumers also are sensitive to being nickel-and-dimed, and are tired of perceived deals, as airlines have done in recent years. The key is to be forthcoming with what travelers are getting, and what they will need to pay extra for. An example here is the basic economy seats on many airlines, where you pay a little less, but lose any flexibility or perks. For some, this is a reasonable trade-off. Many airlines have tried to counteract the negative perception by also offering bundles with upgrades: For one extra fee you get priority boarding, upgraded seats, and a drink, for example, which comes at a discount as compared to selecting those options individually.
The key with bundles is to focus your messaging on the savings and the convenience, and don’t forget your clear language reflecting flexibility. You must be entirely transparent with your bundles and make it obvious what (if anything) the traveler is saving by bundling.
Hot idea: 75% of travelers would prefer to subscribe to one service that bundles everything. And 58% of people who travel just three times a year would consider a travel subscription service. But few brands are doing this. Consider forming distribution alliances with OTAs or directly with partners to offer a subscription model.
Tip 3: Use hyper-personalization to send targeted campaigns
Solo travel is popular among 17% of respondents. And often they have a certain type of trip in mind. They have maximum flexibility and may make unconventional choices in planning their individual getaways. They may be swayed by bundles, marketing of new destinations, off-peak deals, and more.
But group travel, including family and friends, accounts for 46% of respondents. This could mean a family trip to Disney World, or a group vacation to a Caribbean island.
Every traveler has unique needs, preferences, and expectations. Even within groups, there is stark variety. Your requirement as a travel brand is to meet your customers where they are, and market to them with bundle and save deals, trip inspiration, and upgrades that appeal to their individual behaviors.
This also applies to the experience that travelers want to have. Some, especially younger generations, are seeking unique opportunities to explore hidden gems and interact closely with local people and culture, not just see it from afar. Tailor your offerings to individual preferences, leveraging data insights to recommend personalized experiences, exclusive offers, or unique local attractions that resonate with travelers.
Sending generic or broad-appeal messages won’t elicit the outcomes you need. Using modern technology, like Zeta, you can understand the unique characteristics of your travelers and send them offers that will convert.
Tip 4: Be sensitive to safety concerns
Travel has inherent risks, especially in some regions. And in early 2025, several highly visible plane crashes have made travelers feel concerned about the safety of air travel.
In February 2025, a poll found that 64% of U.S. adults think air travel is very or somewhat safe, down from 71% in January 2024. And about 20% say air transportation is very or somewhat unsafe, up from 12% in 2024.
For travel brands, it isn’t about making guarantees, but of showcasing your commitment to a safe and comfortable trip. Whether it’s security protocols, staff training, or emergency management, don’t shy away from these conversations.
And consider that safety may impact travelers’ decisions to travel. For example, many people cite safety and lack of familiarity as concerns that inhibit them from booking international trips. Education and safety awareness could be important tactics to address these opportunities. And this is also where promoting bundles can help, like transportation. These are all things that can help the traveler feel more confident in their booking and your brand.
Case Study: How the HVCB Achieved an 80% Email Open Rate
Travel is booming in 2025, especially for international trips. But that doesn’t mean travel marketers can coast. You need to:
- Build traveler confidence with flexibility
- Enhance the travel experience with bundles
- Use hyper-personalization to send targeted messages
- Be sensitive to safety concerns
Understanding and addressing evolving consumer preferences is critical for travel brands. The Hawaii Visitation and Convention Bureau (HVCB) recently upgraded their pre-trip planning emails to include bundle offers, provide education to enhance familiarity, build trust, and create excitement, and encourage app downloads
No comments:
Post a Comment