travel trends Archives

21 Dec 2018

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8 x Travel Trends for 2019

Sticky Post By Wander-lust On December 21, 2018 With No Comments

What’s happening in the world of travel this coming year? A lot, if we believe Booking.com. They are predicting 8 travel trends for 2019 and we’ve lined them up for you.

1. Travel to learn
For travelers, making meaningful trips is becoming increasingly important. More than half (56%) of travelers say that traveling has taught them new skills and insights. 68% of respondents want to participate in a cultural exchange and learn new skills, 54% indicate that they want to volunteer and 53% opt for international work placements. We can totally relate and traveled to Bolivia 2 years ago to report about women rights. It was incredible, tough and we learned so much.

2. As easy as possible
In 2019, convenience will become the standard when it comes to technological innovations in the field of travel. The innovations that, according to travelers, will strike the most, are those who offer practical solutions for traveling with artificial intelligence (AI), virtual reality (VR) and speech recognition. Think of opening your hotel room with your smartphone or a robotic concierge who speaks the language of the guests. Crazy? Well, 57% of travelers are interested in solutions such as an app for real-time baggage tracking or one app that has everything for planning and booking their trip. In addition, 31% are interested in the idea of a ‘virtual travel agency’ in their living room, with for example virtual assistants with speech recognition who answer travel questions.

In 2019, a lot is going to happen in the travel world

3. Discover the unknown
When it comes to traveling, we continue to push our boundaries and that includes space tourism. The travel industry and other companies will invest in tests with space travel on earth to make space travel possible. They meet the growing demand of consumers who want to take the big leap. 40% of travelers confirm that they think the prospect of space travel is fantastic, and would also consider this experience themselves (38%). Until space travel becomes reality, 60% of travelers opt for adventure below sea level.

4. The more personal, the better
The generic travel guides are history and make way for shorter but personally relevant content. One third of travelers (34%) want “something” or someone to take the difficult work off their hands and provide them with travel recommendations: 41% would like companies in the travel industry to use technologies such as AI to provide travel suggestions based on on previous travel experiences. The personal is becoming increasingly important; individual recommendations are increasingly giving direction to each journey.

5. Awareness Travel
In 2019, the social, political and environmental problems of a possible travel destination will be examined before travelers actually book: 48% of travelers think that social problems in a travel destination are taken into account when deciding on a visit. In addition, travelers are increasingly looking for new and authentic adventures, and want to be sure that they can travel safely – regardless of gender, race or sexual orientation. Platforms such as Destination Pride provide destinations with a score that allows travelers to see how LGBT + are friendly. 19% of travelers plan to visit a Pride festival in 2019, of which almost a third (30%) is between 18 and 34 years old.

6. Fight the plastic problem
Millennials and Gen Z search for sustainability in their destination; looking for opportunities to use less plastic and to work more sustainably. More than a third (37%) is prepared to clean up plastic and other waste on a beach or other tourist attraction.

Surfer Julia van Rooij is fighting the plastic soup

Investing in sustainable start-ups is becoming increasingly important in 2019, because travelers who want to travel responsibly increasingly ask more critical questions about the sustainability of their destination and accommodations. This will lead to a number of new start-ups in the travel industry.

Tip: Compensate your CO2? check out GreenSeat

7. On the hunt for new experiences
Two-thirds of travelers (60%) value experiences more than equipment. That is why ‘Doing’ when traveling becomes just as important as ‘going’, and perhaps even more important. There is no less pressure on life, and therefore experiences can help to strive for a less stressful existence. In 2019, two-fifths of travelers (42%) plan to visit a destination where they can feel carefree again.

8. Small is good
More than half of the travelers worldwide (53%) say they plan to make more weekend trips in 2019. These small trips are characterised by the fact that more activities are planned in shorter times. ‘Less is more’ is the motto, and consumers swear by custom on these trips. Think of weekend trips, city trips or road trips.

Take a city trip to Budapest!

Pepijn Rijvers, Chief Marketing Officer at Booking.com says: “In 2019 a lot is going to happen in the travel world. Technological innovation continues, the world is increasingly connected and consumer demand for the best travel experiences is constantly growing.

Happy traveling!

Wander-Lust

30 Oct 2017

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These are the Travel Trends for 2018

Sticky Post By Wander-lust On October 30, 2017 With 5 Comments

Trends. You either love them or you couldn’t care less about them. One thing is for sure, you are going to hear about these “trends” sooner or later. The same applies to the travel industry. Every year, we see a shift and it has a lot to do with our changing behaviour. The way we travel is important for travel agencies and brands, so that they can play into this and give the “consumer” want he or she wants. Booking.com recently researched 19.000 people on their platform to find out what the travel needs and trends are for the coming year. We had a look and picked the travel trends for 2018, that stood out in the report.

1. Experiences are more important
Booking.com found out that 4of their travelers are planning to travel to a destination that is written on their bucket list. The majority of these, want to cross one or more destinations from their list in the coming year. People attach more value to experiences rather than material matters, giving them more opportunity to make unforgettable trips in 2018.

2. Going back to the past
In addition to new experiences, 2018 also marks the past. People want to experience their most precious childhood memories and return to destinations that have always remained in the heart. A third of all travelers 34% are considering returning to a place where they went as a kid in order to see the destination from a new perspective. The popularity of these nostalgic vacations comes from the sense of happiness that calls on these places. Travelers enjoy beautiful and precious memories of these family vacations. Funny enough, the millennials are the most sentimental. For example, 44 procent of 18- to 34-year-olds want to return to a favorite family destination from their childhood.

3. Travel with friends
2018 will become THE year of traveling with friends. To the question; of what kind of traveler would you like to travel in 2018, answered “with a group of friends”. In 2018, it’s no longer just about the destination, but also about the people we create beautiful memories with. A vacation with friends is the ultimate opportunity to spend more time with them! A holiday with friends also has financial benefits: four out of ten participants indicate that they can stay in a lodging with friends, something they could not afford alone during a holiday.

4. Wellness & healthy travel
This is not a new trend but it’s a trend that will continue thoughout 2018. Compared to 2017, almost twice as many people plan to travel for health and wellness (one in ten in 2017 vs. almost one in five in 2018!).

5. Travel like a local
We have been traveling like this since we can remember but more people are now loving this way of traveling. If you learn from a local, you see a destination in the purest form. Instead of staying in a large hotel, people also try to stay at a guesthouse where they are in close contact with their host. A quarter of travelers say it’s important to find a host that has local knowledge and can share tips about nice restaurants and spots. At the same time, a host should be available, but not in a way that feels too invading.

What do we think?
If we look at our own opinion when it comes to the travel trends for 2018, we think that 2 others should be added to the list. Sustainable Travel and Traveling for a Cause. Over the the last couple of years we’ve seen many travel brands evolving and growing because they focus on sustainability, local produce or good causes. Travelers love collection good karma points and want to come back home with a satisfactory feeling. The same applies to us. It’s not just about those Instagram photo’s by the pool. Traveling is also about learning gaining a greater understanding of what is going on in the world and making it a better place.

Do you think something else deserves a mention in the travel trends list of 2018? Comment below!

Love,

Elke

More travel tips? Check them all in our Travel Tips segment!

13 Apr 2017

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5 x New Travel Trends for 2017

Sticky Post By Wander-lust On April 13, 2017 With No Comments

Travel is so diverse nowadays and it’s hard to keep up with the latest trends. Some, however, do stand out and we thought you should know about these 5 travel trends for 2017.

Glamping & Camping
Remember those times when you went camping with your parents? Waking up by birds singing, feeling the morning sun burning and the sound of your tent unzipping. This was camping back then and let’s be honest, you loved it right? Well, camping is totally making a comeback and it comes with all the luxuries you missed back in the days. Why not go glamping with your friends or take a roadtrip in an old skool Volkswagen Van. More and more companies are giving us the chance to experience camping in a whole new way. With Camptoo (only in The Netherlands), you can hire a camper in any shape or size ala Airbnb-style. You can go festival glamping this summer, sleep in a wine barrel in Germany or go back to basic on Terschelling. It’s all possible in 2017!

Glamping is one of the travel trends for 2017

Sustainable Travel
As travelers, we care more about our planet because we know more about her than ever. Unfortunately, traveling can take it’s toll on mother earth so we need to find new ways to accommodate. Start by compensating your ecological footprint by paying for your CO2. Calculate how much you use via this website. Book your vacation via Better Places and sleep in Eco-Lodges instead of a large hotel. You can do a lot yourself by re-using the same towel for a few days or refilling your water bottle. Check www.conservationvolunteers.com.au if you want to proactively help promote ecotourism or check out this website if you want to help save endangered sea turtles.

Wellness & Spiritual Travel (digital Detox)
This is probably one of the fastest growing travel trends of 2017. With our busy lives, it’s hard to totally switch off for a moment. Even on holiday, people are still checking emails and scroll down the pointless Facebook newsfeed. Therefore you see a growth in Wellness and Spiritual Travel where you can have yourself a digital detox. Meaning; no phone, no laptop. Just your thoughts, good conversations or perhaps a good book. The most popular trend being the yoga retreat. If you’re interested in booking one we have 3 suggestions; a vegan yoga retreat or a bliss yoga retreat, both on Bali or check out Eco-resort Into The Wild Algarve in Portugal. Visit www.itstimetologoff.com for a total digital detox vacation.

Putting our phones down and totally relax at Into The Wild Algarve Eco-resort.

Travel With A Cause
This is a trend we are very happy about! We love traveling and enjoy amazing press or personal trips but sometimes it’s good to stay grounded and see what’s going on in the world. At Wander-Lust we decided that at least once a year, we want to travel with and for a good cause. No luxury hotels, no Instagram photo’s by the pool. Nope, we want to visit communities and give something back. We traveled to Bolivia in March to report about violence against women. Organisations like Mensen Met Een Missie make this trip possible. You can also decide to teach in Uganda, help as a volunteer in India or bring new clothes to Bolivia. For a unique chance to live and work in another country, you should check out www.peacecorps.gov.

Sarah with children in Bolivia

Family Travel
Times have changed and worlds are getting smaller so traveling to a far destination with your entire family is totally happening in 2017. You know families love the all inclusive holidays but there is a small shift happening. People tend to go for private villa’s and homes where they can totally relax and do their own thing. Now that one of us has a baby (Elke), we are looking for different locations and accommodations where this is possible without losing the adventurous side. Want to see if a luxury All Inclusive is for you? Check Elke’s video where she experienced Club Med.

So which travel trend are you picking up this year?

Love,

Wander-Lust

02 Sep 2016

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These will be our Travel Needs for 2025

Sticky Post By Wander-lust On September 2, 2016 With 1 Comment

Travel trend agency Purpose Lab and ANVR teamed up and investigated our travel needs for 2025. For Millennials – born after 1980 – travel is an increasingly important part of life. The prediction is that in 2025 travelers want to find exclusive and enriching travel experiences that shape us and give meaning. We want to blend in with the locals even more than before. “We also want to give something back in 2025 to gather the community and karma points while we travel. Work and private life flow more and more into each other and the motto “work hard, play hard” is replaced by “work less, play more.”

With this in mind, they’ve created a top 5 on how Millennials have their travel needs fulfilled.

Travel needs for 2025?

1. All-exclusive bucketlists

In 2025 we’re not just talking about a bucketlist, but we will talk about bucketlist 2.0 where experience is key (especially in the western world) Far away from the tourist attractions such as the Eiffel Tower or the Pizza Tower. We want exclusive experiences. We want to make our dreams come true while we travel. Several partners will play into this and will start a hunt on under-the-radar destinations. Watch nature in it’s purest vorm by watching the migration of wild animals or a sun eclipse instead of a boring city tour. Festivals will still be big but they will be more focused on cultural festivals en religious celebrations to give you a fresher outlook on the world. Expertcations, where you will transform into a specialist during your travels will make your experience that much richer. For example, hunt your own meat, learn the language of your destinations or work in the rice fields for a day or two. At Wander-Lust we already seek for the unknown and finding those experiences that are new and different but it’s great to hear things are shifting into that direction.

2. Collecting karma

In 2025, it will become the norm to give some back instead just going on “holiday”. People, Planet and Purpose ‘ is now more central. Fulfillment and world improvement are the goal. Tour operators are responding to this by involving and rewarding us for conscious travel . Voluntourism (volunteer), fly CO2 neutral, local travel and recycling is to be even more popular. It is pretty certain that in 10 years we are seeking a green and fair travel experience. Each person does it in his own way; For one person that’s taking care of elephants in Sri Lanka, the other donates to a foundation such as Travel With Your Heart. It’s funny that this prediction is mentioned in the top 5 because we believe we have a duty as travel bloggers to give something back instead of just laying by the pool or doing the coolest things. We are able to travel the world far and wide but in order to respect the people and world, we must return the favor. Sarah and I are currently in talks with another travel blogger to start traveling with a cause. More on this soon..

“We will talk about a bucketlist 2.0 in 2025”

3. Travel la vida local
Connect with the local life is the key to authentic travel needs for 2025. Experience a destination not in a passive way, but fully interact experienced and gain inspiration and world knowledge though locals. We rely on local expertise and thanks to the growing number of online peer-to-peer platforms, social media and apps we find that we are easily connected to different kinds of cultures and habits on the other side of the world. We eat with bizarre local dishes as Hot Vit Lon (egg with chicken embryo inside) in Vietnam, we are learning to dance salsa in the Colombian salsa city of Cali, we sleep in a hammock between the Costa Ricans under the guise of ‘ Pura Vida ‘ and we are in Nepal along with the monks before dawn to meditate and make sacrifices. Living la vida local!

4. Travel to work

In 2025, you will be able to work everywhere. Digital nomads are already booming, but in 10 years we know no different. We will work into the cloud as we call it rather than at one place. Even though we might be far away, we always feel at home because we are always connected with our network. In 2025 we won’t look for a job near home, no we travel to different places where there is work or interesting conferences or business partners. Lifelogging will be the way to keep everyone up to date. We look for inspiration in the world and make this are work spot. You could travel to the Philippines to write a book, run our blog from a eco-lodge in Zanzibar or make business deal from a cabin in the Norwegian mountains. It’s all possible!

Travel and work

5. Work less, play more!

It’s all about finding that balance. In 2025 we decide to choose our happiness over a career and we try everything to make our job as fun as possible. With this said, flexibility and personal needs are on top of the bill. We want to be triggered and inspirerend while on business trips. Besides this we want to share our experiences with our peers, friends and family. Yes, work and playtime will blend more together and a business trip will transform in a weekend away by adding a few extra days. The corporate hotels will make place for a boutique hotel or Poshtel and you’ll want to work in the lobby instead of your hotel room.So get ready for a change in travel which looks very good if you ask me!

Love,

Elke

For more travel trends in 2016 check our previous post:

14 Jan 2016

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Travel trends 2016

Sticky Post By Wander-lust On January 14, 2016 With 1 Comment

This year travel is all about exploring, solo travel, going green, digital travel and wanderlust. Some of this years travel trends really stood out for me and these are definitely worth highlighting.

“What will be the travel trends of 2016?”

Digital Nomads
Travel has changed a lot since 10 years ago and one of the reasons has to do with the digital age we are living in today. We can’t leave without our camera’s, wifi and travel gadgets. Some cool stuff mentioned by Cherrypicker’s Tessa was Camera Restricta. This is an app that blocks your phone camera if you’re about to shoot a boring picture that everybody makes. (think tower of Pisa, Eiffel-tower etc) Polarsteps (mentioned by us before) is an app where you can document your trip with photo’s and journals. Selfies are still popular than ever and we love to brag with our holiday pics while our family & friends are stuck in the rain back home (yes, we are guilty as charged!)

Travel selfies are still hot

Travel green
we all know that traveling can be very harmful to this planet. But one of this years big travel trends is to go green(er).
Companies like Airbnb are collaborating with Tesla where they are working toward building a world with no limits to how far you can go while driving an electric car. You can now buy tents or even backpacks which are solar chargeable like the Voltaicsystems. We are all for this new green evolution!

Solo Travel..or not?
Nowadays we are independent, strong and not afraid to take that leap and go on a solo travel adventure. We meet new people, get closer to the locals and there are plenty of things that make this easier. More and more websites let you crowdfund your own adventure while Trade Your Trip is like marketplace to sell your holiday if you can’t go anymore (due to illness for example). Don’t like the basic airplane food? You can now pre order your food with Airgrub and get it delivered at the airport before you get in the plane. Say goodbye to tasteless airplane food! Meeting new people has also become a lot easier with apps like Penroads and Tripr where you can find a travel buddy in no time. Want to know the newest gadget for getting very close to fellow travelers? Check out this idea that connect your tent with another one! No more sleeping alone..

Traveling solo?

Or find a travel buddy?

Some other travel trends we liked:
I love the concept Poshstels. These are hostels but with a touch of luxury. TerraVelo Tours arrange the best glamping tours while Hipcamp makes camping so cool and true nomads would love to camp at the area’s they offer on the website. Or maybe you want to stay at Der Azawad Camp in Morocco? (only accessible by camel!)
The city of Brussels came up with a brilliant concept named Call Brussels, where you could call a number and the phone would be picked up by a complete stranger walking past the phones that were placed throughout the city. To see the video’s and people’s reactions, check their website in 4 days from now.

Poshtels are the best new thing for budget travelers! Source: casa gracia barcelona

Camping belongs to this years travel trends. Photo by Ezekiel Gonzalez

So whichever travel trends you may choose, we wish you lot’s of happy adventures in 2016!

Love,

Elke

More travel tips? Check below: