The travel scene has changed enormously over the years and decades; at one time, it was all about package holidays and timeshares, then it was about long-haul excursions to far-flung places; the trend nowadays is more frugal and sustainable travel that encourages lower carbon emissions and eco-responsibility.

Find out more about how the travel scene has changed below.

Current Trends in the Travel Scene

Immersive Travel

Traditional cultural excursions are a huge trend in travel, whether visiting locations across Asia, Europe, or the Americas. 

Immersion means digging further under the skin of a destination to experience it as you would living there as a local, as opposed to hitting off the tourist sites, snapping a few photos, and being done. 

Immersion means truly understanding what makes a place tick, supporting the local community, and this can be done through volunteering, adding skills based workshops to your itinerary like local cooking classes, or participating in language exhange. 

Anything that allows you to ‘travel deep’ can be classified as an immersive trip – where you’re off the beaten path and really reaching the heart and soul of a destination.

Low Budget Travel

Ever since the pandemic the world has faced an inflation and cost of living crisis, so in order to continue traveling, many have turned to low budget alternatives. 

This includes camping vacations, road trips, walking instead of taking public transport, and in fact, walking holidays themselves have become a new trend. 

More and more people are turning to self cooking vacations, as opposed to eating out, and this usually also hits the immersive travel trend, as you’re able to visit local grocery stores and markets for your produce, and try new ingredients in your food.

Sustainable Travel

People are more and more conscious of the impact our travel behavior has on not only the environment around us, but also on the communities we visit. So sustainable travel has become a huge trend.

Some travelers choose to travel by train instead of air travel to reduce carbon emissions, while others continue to travel by air but opt for a vegan diet to offset the carbon.

But sustainable travel is not just about carbon emissions; we have to think about the pros and cons of tourism. Traveling in off season allows you to support local economies at a tougher time of year, without contributing to over tourism in summer, for instance.

Sending cards in envelopes or postcards from your destination is still a trend, though most countries have now made these type of travel staples recyclable.  

Local Travel

Throughout the pandemic, the word on everyone’s lips was “staycation,” this is a vacation that didn’t require air travel, because you’re within driving distance of home.

When the pandemic came to an end, the notion of a staycation remained because it makes so much sense in the current climate. Nowadays, you can find more travelers exploring their home countries and digging deeper into the culture.