We follow Audley Travel, not because we travel with them frequently, but because they always have some inspiring destinations. They recently published an article “5 Travel Trends for 2025“. In case you don’t have the time nor the inclination to read the online entry, here are the trends:
- Exploring with expert guides
- A hybrid trip of two halves
- Cultural trips created for your family
- Planning ahead for cosmic sights
- Following the locals, not the crowds
We have recently been using expert guides more frequently, and they do bring a local viewpoint to our travels. We especially like the free walking tours that are available in cities around the world.
We have been doing “hybrid” trips for years! We have combined our annual family visits to Australia with trips to Singapore and Timor Leste. And later this year we will top off a month in northern Africa with a week in France (because we are flying Air France!).
Family trips have been a staple of ours for years, and now a third generation seems to have the travel bug. All of our three grandchildren have been international travellers by their first birthday.
The cosmic sights one is something that we have never done. The closest that we’ve come is making a trip to Canada’s Yukon to see the Northern Lights, although that was only part of the reason for that trip.
And the last trend, following the locals not the crowds, has been our style for years. While the major cities like Paris and Barcelona are truly over-touristed, it is for a good reason. But going to a city like Dublin and hearing more American accents than Irish is kind of depressing. (Fun fact: nearly 35 million Americans claim Irish descent, but there’s only 6.6 million people in Ireland!) We are going to continue to do both; we will follow the locals in lesser known destinations, but we will still go to (or return to) iconic tourism capitals. Although we now stay in less popular neighbourhoods such as:
- Ostia Antica instead of downtown Rome,
- Bo-Kaap in Cape Town rather than at the cruise ship quay,
- and this year in Paris we’ll be staying in the newly trendy 11th arrondissement rather than beside the Eiffel Tower.
For those who would prefer to follow the crowds, Tripadvisor published their Travellers’ Choice Destinations, but it’s really more of a popularity contest than a true comparison of the “best” places to visit. (Whatever that means!) But one of their top picks, Marrakech, is in our plans for this year!