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Summer is just around the corner, and the travel world is buzzing with exciting trends, new insights, and fresh inspiration to help you plan your next adventure or business move. Whether you’re a travel pro or simply love to explore, this edition is packed with must-know info and big-picture forecasts shaping the future of travel in the DACH region and beyond.
Here’s a sneak peek of what you’ll discover inside:
- What Travelers Expect in 2025: Early bookings, family focus, and social media-driven inspiration.
- The Future of Travel 2040: How to prepare.
- Contrast Baths & Regeneration: Why integrate it into your offers.
- Luxury Travel Trends: Discover where discerning travelers are headed next.
- Emerging DACH Trends: Early Birds Drive Sales
- IMEX Frankfurt 2025: Record attendance and fresh insights on trust and transparency in events.
Market Insights
What travellers expect in 2025
Understanding what drives travelers in 2025 is essential for travel brands and tour operators looking to develop relevant offers and communication strategies. Recent insights from Urlaubsguru’s latest survey in Germany reveal shifting behaviors and priorities among travelers – from early planning to growing interest in nature and flexibility. Whether your target audience includes couples, families, or adventure-seekers, these trends highlight actionable focus areas for the coming year.
Key Insights at a Glance
Early Booking & Offer Strategy
With 71% of travelers booking early, now is the time to focus on early-bird deals and smart upselling. All-inclusive packages remain popular for their ease and transparency.
Target Groups: Couples, Families, Adventure Seekers
Couples are leading in trip planning, looking for romance and privacy. Families seek comfort, flexibility, and kid-friendly options. Adventure seekers want nature, hiking, and immersive experiences.
Accommodation and Experience Expectations
Families value pools, play areas, and flexible check-ins. Couples prefer romantic settings and wellness hotels. Across all groups, easy and stress-free planning is key.
Value for Money & Mid-Market Focus
Most travelers spend €50–200 before the trip. While cost-conscious, they expect quality and clear pricing—value and trust make the difference.
Social Media as a Key Source of Inspiration
Travel inspiration is driven by TikTok and Instagram. Hashtags like #wanderlust and #hiking are shaping choices, making visual content more powerful than ever.
Read the full survey here.
The Future of Travel: Outlook to 2040
How will travel evolve by 2040? As the travel industry faces rapid transformation, understanding the future landscape is crucial. The Deloitte and Google study “Future of Travel 2040” reveals a future shaped by personalization, immersive technology, and sustainability—trends that will redefine traveler expectations and industry standards. This research highlights the urgent need for travel brands to adopt data-driven, digital ecosystems to stay competitive.
Read the full article here.
Contrast baths: the growing trend towards regeneration
Contrast baths—a therapy involving alternating between hot and cold water—are experiencing a resurgence in wellness and sports recovery. Favored by athletes, individuals with circulation concerns, and wellness enthusiasts alike, this practice has become a popular feature in luxury spas. But what exactly is contrast bathing, and why should you integrate it into your offerings? Discover more in our latest blogpost.
Luxury Travel: More Personal, More Expensive
Demand for customized luxury travel is booming. According to Dirk Gowin, CEO of Select Luxury Travel, travelers are willing to spend more for authentic, personalized experiences rather than cookie-cutter luxury.
Africa is particularly trending, with strong demand for Namibia, Botswana, South Africa, and Kenya—thanks to improved infrastructure and high service standards.
Other growth regions include Asia (Japan, Bhutan, Indonesia) and South America (Peru, Argentina). Luxury travelers today are looking for meaningful and immersive experiences, not just opulence.
How Swiss People Travel in 2025
The 2025 Swiss Bankers Travel Study, surveying around 1,600 participants, reveals that Swiss travelers increasingly prioritize early planning, comfort, and safety. Mobile bookings dominate, with 43.3% organizing their trips via smartphone. Longer stays averaging over ten days are the norm, while spontaneous short trips are rare. Sustainability is more important to older travelers, whereas younger people show openness to using AI in travel planning. Most prefer hotels, with location and price being the top factors in accommodation choice. Credit and prepaid cards dominate as payment methods, and free cancellation options remain a key booking consideration. Overall, the study highlights a clear shift toward digital, carefully planned travel with a strong focus on flexibility and security. Discover all the Swiss travel trends here.
Survey: Nearly a Third Traveling Less or Shorter in 2025
Due to economic uncertainty, many Germans are reconsidering their travel plans. According to a recent survey by the German Tourism Industry Association (BTW), around 31% plan to travel either less (20%) or for shorter durations (11%) this year. Only 10% say they will travel more frequently and spend more money on vacations.
Most travelers (44%) are sticking to their usual habits, with no changes from the previous year. Despite growing concerns over extreme heat and wildfires, two-thirds of respondents still plan to take their vacations during the summer months (June to September).
The BTW is hosting its annual “Tourism Summit” in Berlin today, with key political figures such as Mayor Kai Wegner expected to attend.
Source: Bundesverband der Deutschen Tourismuswirtschaft (BTW), Survey conducted May 19–21, 2025 with over 2,000 participants
Booking Trends: Early Birds Drive Sales
In March 2025 alone, Germans spent €2 billion on package holidays, a 6% increase compared to March 2024 (Travel Data + Analytics, March 2025). The rise is largely driven by early bookings for winter 2025 and summer 2026. In fact, 61% of summer 2025 holiday volume is already booked. While short-term bookings remain significant, the trend suggests growing confidence and planning behavior among German consumers.
How Germans Make Travel Decisions
German travelers are increasingly analytical and budget-conscious (TUI & Appinio May survey). When selecting a destination, 71.5% prioritize price, making it the most decisive factor, followed by climate (55.3%). Other influencers include safety (44.3%) and cultural offerings (37.9%).
When traveling, 34.7% go with their partner, while 20.7% travel with family. However, 62.9% have also taken solo trips, indicating a strong individual travel trend.
For inspiration, 44.8% consult blogs and online platforms, making them the most influential source, followed by booking portals (19.1%), travel agencies (13.6%), and Instagram (13.4%).
Sustainability is slowly gaining traction: 41.2% say sustainability influences their travel decisions, although only 16.7% are willing to pay more for eco-friendly options.
Travel Safety on the Rise
Travel safety is emerging as a major factor in German vacation planning. In a recent ERGO survey, 44% of travelers cited safety as one of the top three factors influencing their choice of destination—behind only price (68%) and weather (63%).
Affordable Destinations Gain Popularity
With inflation and cost sensitivity on the rise, value-for-money destinations are trending (TDA Survey). Egypt bookings are up by 21% and Bulgaria by 24% for summer 2025, highlighting strong demand for affordable beach and all-inclusive holidays.
Meanwhile, the USA saw an 11% drop in cumulative bookings for summer 2025, despite an overall 9% growth in long-haul travel. This may indicate that even adventurous travelers are leaning toward more cost-effective exotic destinations.
Market News
IMEX Event Industry Fair Closes with Record Participation
Despite economic headwinds, geopolitical tensions, and rising protectionism affecting the global MICE (Meetings, Incentives, Conferences, Exhibitions) sector, the IMEX fair in Frankfurt experienced strong attendance and engagement. The event attracted 13,000 visitors from around the world, including 4,000 Hosted Buyers who were invited for their key roles in the industry. The exhibitor area was the largest ever recorded at IMEX, highlighting renewed enthusiasm among suppliers despite the market normalization after the pandemic boom years of 2022 and 2023. A total of 67,000 meetings were pre-arranged, representing a 10% increase compared to the previous year, signaling robust business demand and greater involvement from buyers.
Organizers emphasized the enduring importance of face-to-face meetings, with industry leaders like Heledd Williams from Meet In Wales and Tracy Halliwell from the London Convention Bureau praising the event as a major success. The fair’s Inspiration Hub in Hall 9 hosted educational sessions focusing on pressing industry themes such as building trust, enhancing transparency, and creating immersive, experience-based event designs. Alexandra Howar of In Vision Communications underscored transparency as the “currency of trust” between agencies and planners, crucial for boosting efficiency and improving attendee experiences in an increasingly complex event landscape.
Most Popular Destinations for Whitsun Holidays
As Whitsun holidays approach, Skyscanner reveals the top travel spots. Mediterranean favorites like Spain, Italy, Greece, and Turkey lead the list, along with long-haul destinations such as the USA and Thailand. For city trips, Palma, Istanbul, and Heraklion are most popular. The flexible “All Destinations” search—sorting flights by best price without a fixed target—is the top choice overall.
HOTELS
Small Luxury Hotels Adds 25 New Properties in Q1 2025
Small Luxury Hotels of the World (SLH) has added 25 new boutique properties to its collection in the first quarter of 2025, continuing the growth momentum it began in 2024 when 82 hotels joined the portfolio. The additions include locations in Italy, Germany, and France, with SLH now offering over 620 independently owned hotels in nearly 90 countries. The expansion focuses on culturally rich urban destinations and unique heritage buildings, aiming to provide authentic, high-end experiences for discerning travelers.
SLH Opens First Hotel in Munich
In April, SLH opened its first property in Munich: the Münchner Kindl – House of Hütter. Housed in an 18th-century townhouse, the boutique hotel offers ten apartment suites and six rooms in the heart of the Bavarian capital. This marks an important step in SLH’s German market expansion, blending historical charm with modern design in a central, culturally vibrant location.
DISTRIBUTION NETWORKS
Swiss Airports See 2% Passenger Growth in Early 2025
In the first quarter of 2025, Swiss airports handled 12.6 million passengers, marking a 2% increase compared to the same period last year. Despite this growth, passenger numbers remain 3% below pre-pandemic levels from 2019. Flight movements also rose by 4% to about 102,000 takeoffs and landings.
Dertour Opens Bookings for Winter 2025/26 and Summer 2026
The tour operator brands within the Dertour Group have made 70% of their hotel and tour packages for winter 2025/26 and 40% of their long-haul summer 2026 offerings available for booking. Popular destinations include locations across short, medium, and long-haul routes, such as the Indian Ocean, Thailand, and the UAE. With a 31% increase in guests last winter and a projected 22% rise for the upcoming season, Dertour emphasizes the growing demand for early booking, especially among price-conscious travelers.
Holidayheroes Expands Mobile B2B Platform with Exclusive Solamento Partnership
Holidayheroes Germany has expanded its B2B services by launching an exclusive mobile sales platform available only to Solamento consultants. Following a successful pilot phase, this partnership aims to strengthen Holidayheroes’ reach and enhance the mobile booking experience for travel professionals.
TUI Launches New Customizable Tour Platform
TUI, the market leader, has introduced “TUI Tours,” a new platform allowing customers to create and book tailor-made tours. Developed with Swiss tech company Nezasa, the platform offers travel agencies a 12% commission on bookings, facilitating personalized travel experiences and boosting agency incentives.
Want to stay ahead of the curve?
Let’s talk about how to bring these travel trends into your strategy.
Contact us at info@klebergroup.com
