As 2023 begins, the pandemic is still having an impact on the way we travel. Not, thankfully, the string of restrictions that marked 2020 and 2021, but in influencing this year’s new travel trends.
For some, it’s provoked a desire to revisit familiar favourites and indulge in nostalgia, while for others, 2023 is finally the year to take an unforgettable adventure, with a new-found confidence that those bucket-list plans won’t get cancelled.
The pandemic’s impact on work is also being felt in our free time, with flexible working leading to new travel opportunities, along with a desire to help those who have felt the biggest impact of the past few years.
Embracing nostalgia
There’s nothing like travel to let you escape the demands of everyday life, so when times are tough, a mix of escapism and familiarity is high on the wishlist.
For some travellers, that means planning the sort of holidays they enjoyed when they were young, while for others it’s the joy of returning to a much-loved previous destination or favourite hotel.
The trends forecast from Booking.com found that “people intend to carve out travel experiences that harken back to simpler times” with 88 per cent embracing nostalgic getaways, including holidays inspired by retro movies or even choosing bus travel to invoke the feeling of school trips.
“With millennials now the parents of young kids, there will be an increase in destinations previously popular in the 1980s and 1990s such as Budva in Montenegro,” added the report.
“Almost a quarter want to disappear into the romanticism of a pre-digital era — even for millennials and Gen-Zs who never lived it.”
SS Sudan 508550.ori CREDIT Olivier Romano Original Travel
SS Sudan (Photo: Olivier Romano/Original Travel)
What to book: If you don’t fancy school bus-inspired trips, train travel is genuinely tempting this year. A new high-speed train across Laos is making more of the country accessible, while closer to home you can board the reinstated night train between Istanbul and Sofia in Bulgaria as well as the recently launched EuroNight overnight service between Stockholm and Hamburg.
There are also new destinations and routes from Orient Express, including La Dolce Vita, covering the whole of Italy, with six new trains connecting Paris, Rome, Split and Istanbul.
Or cruise the Nile aboard the Steam Ship Sudan with Original Travel, the ship on which Agatha Christie sailed; the last remaining paddle-steamer from the golden age of travel in the 1920s and 1930s.
Anticipating adventure
After the insecurity of the past couple of years, when at times any kind of travel felt like a risky venture, people are feeling far more optimistic about making plans.
Travellers are now booking their trips an average of 58 days in advance for domestic hotel stays and 80 days for international trips, well ahead of 2019’s figures of 44 and 60 days respectively, according to global travel network Virtuoso.
These are no ordinary trips we’re planning either. Booking.com found that nearly three-quarters of travellers want to experience “out of comfort zone” travel, whether that’s finding uniquely unusual experiences or heading further off the beaten track.
Galapagos shutterstock 1536766061 Courtesy Scott Dunn
Girl in the Galapagos (Photo: Scott Dunn)
“2022 was the year we rediscovered the joy of travel and this voracious appetite for travel looks set to continue in 2023,” agrees Simon Lynch, Scott Dunn Global Sales & Product Director.
“Over 60 per cent of guests state that they ‘cannot wait to get on a plane and travel, the further the better’ in 2023, with a huge 80 per cent growth in demand for three-week-long ‘bucket list adventure’ trips in 2023 versus three years prior.”
What to book: The world is your oyster — but we’re turning to the experts to handle our bucket list trips. ABTA found that 54 per cent of families were choosing to book through a travel professional, up from 36 per cent in 2019, whether that’s a tour operator, travel agent or another specialist.
“Travellers are seeking the safety net of a tour operator after such an uncertain time, especially when splurging on bigger, more adventurous trips with many elements to plan,” says Tom Barber, co-founder of Original Travel, which has its own network of local concierges.
Six Senses Maldives MantaPoint AndyBall Courtesy Scott Dunn
Manta Point, Six Senses Maldives (Photo: Andy Ball/Scott Dunn)
Savvy sustainability
Sustainable travel is far from a new trend, but travellers are looking for more than carbon offsetting these days.
Research for Scott Dunn found that citizen science projects helping to create more positive change through travel are becoming more popular, such as testing for microplastics in the Galapagos Islands or learning about seagrass meadows at the new Six Senses Sustainability Camp in the Maldives.
Almost three-quarters of those surveyed by Virtuoso said they’re willing to pay more to travel sustainably if they know where their money is going, seeking out companies and experiences that focus on benefiting local people and preserving natural and cultural heritage.
“A significant percentage of Original Travel clients want their travels to support destinations dependent on tourism and ensure their trip directly benefits the local community,” adds Tom Barber, with trips focusing on accommodation and experiences that are locally run and owned.
What to book: If you’re visiting Switzerland, look out for the Swisstainable emblem: the country’s new strategy focusing on increasing sustainable tourism includes easy ways to find locally owned accommodation and restaurants, as well as highlighting greener travel options.
Bernina Express Switzerland rhb1452b CREDIT Christoph Benz
Switzerland refused entry to thousands of Jews trying to escape the Nazis (Christoph Benz)
Or Exodus Travels is adding new Citizen Science departures for 2023, along with its Rewilding Europe trips.
A six-day stay in Italy’s Apennines, home to eagles, wolves and rare Marsican brown bears, works with local guides and accommodation, while profits support biodiversity restoration work, and the trip also helps to engage local communities in rewilding and conservation projects.
‘Lisness’ travel
Business travel is also changing as the world of work shifts to a more flexible model for many. Now, there’s a new approach to combining leisure and business: dubbed “lisness” by Black Tomato.
“Travellers used to approach business trips by tacking on a few days at the back end; but now it’s a reversal, increasingly driven by travellers planning leisure trips with time for work, tapping the ability to work more flexibly, from wherever,” explains Tom Marchant, co-founder at Black Tomato, who says destinations such as Costa Rica, Chile, Guatemala and Argentina are proving popular for longer stays.
“We’re seeing client travels extending in many instances into month-long ventures, with a 75/25 leisure/business split.”
Oliver Bell, co-founder of villa holiday company Oliver’s Travels, agrees: “According to LinkedIn, 40 per cent of UK adults have worked from holiday this year alone. Extending holidays and working abroad is rapidly becoming a new normal in the workplace.”
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Laptop by lake (Photo: Unsplash)
What to book: Spain is one of the latest countries to announce a new digital nomad visa, aimed at remote workers and the self-employed, following in the footsteps of other European countries offering something similar, including Norway, Malta, Estonia, Croatia, Portugal, and Greece.
Or hotel brands such as Tribe are aimed at guests who could be working, relaxing or a mix of both as they travel. The hotels include spaces designed for working, social hubs to meet others during long-term stays and rooms that keep the essential luxuries but strip away the unnecessary flourishes.
A new property in Budapest is due to open in 2023, joining locations in Cambodia and Indonesia, as well as Australia, France and the Netherlands.
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