Another new travel trend report is out, this time from United Kingdom travel marketers, Lemongrass, echoing previous trend analysts on the growing popularity of emotion-led, personalised breaks and the rejection of traditional destinations and bucket lists.
The Lemongrass predictions for how vacationers will choose to consume and experience travel reveal a rejection of overly stuffed itineraries that are planned to the nth degree to make the most of every single moment. Instead, a move towards “anti-optimisation” is taking place, relieving travellers from the anxiety around doing and seeing it all.
The brand expects “hyper-curated itineraries, rewards programmes, and pressure-filled bucket-list travel” to fade, noting that “people have had it with hustle culture and performative living – and they ’re increasingly uninterested in maximising every minute of their hard-earned holidays too.”
Lemongrass says fitness trackers, productivity apps, and biohacking techniques have leaked the idea of optimal productivity into the travel sphere, creating strain as people try to pack vacations with experiences, recommendations, upgrades, and expectations. Consumers are tiring of this, the report suggests. “Travellers don’t aspire to return home transformed but rather truly rested.” They say there is a message here for travel stakeholders, to simplify itineraries, stay longer in fewer places, and allow more unstructured time.
Cited in the report is Josh Elliott, managing director of a lodge in Zimbabwe, who argues: “Travel has begun to confuse movement with experience. A country is not understood through six lodges in ten days.” This could be seen as a new manifestation of an old split in how people approach holidays: some people behave like culture vultures; others want to watch the world go by from a café terrace.
The next trend identified by Lemongrass is a change in approaches to wellness. At a similar point to the anti-optimisation seen above, the report says wellness is evolving and beginning to shun the pursuit of maximum wellness, which can be a source of “cognitive stress,” towards a kind of passive wellness, or “nervous system health” achieved through “architecture, atmosphere, and experience of a place.” Biophilic design, already written about by Travel Tomorrow, is part of this.
As well as nervous system reset, Lemongrass talks about a “male reset” taking place in society, which, from a tourism perspective, is producing male bonding experiences and “getaways where men can ‘rediscover and redefine masculinity’ through breathwork, bushcraft, connection through nature, and community-centric emotional support.”
Trend four is sustainability-focused and sees travellers attracted by “adapted destinations.” This is a development of the popularity of the “coolcation” or “climate-proofed” planning that focuses on how “the best-prepared destinations understand localised vulnerabilities and adapt accordingly.” Active stewardship and coordinated efforts from all stakeholders are signs of this. Another trend in the list (Number 7: “Earned Travel”) connects here, as Lemongrass highlights how travellers are exhibiting a “new appreciation for experiences that require effort and engagement, as well as yearning for uncurated moments and unengineered encounters.”
Trend five is about how profoundly travellers experience a destination. Rather than just ticking an item off a to-do bucket list produced by AI, consumers are seeking real engagement with a “depth list” exploring the places, people, and cultures they are visiting. Lemongrass says the rise of long-form podcasts and the resurgence of book clubs are just two examples of an increasing appetite for ideas, creativity, and intellectual capital.
Linked to that, the sixth trend is a surge in Citizen Science experiences, wherein travellers are no longer simply floating by in a kayak, but actively participating in nature logging projects, field research, and scientific partnerships. However, Lemongrass cautions that, unless stakeholders take care to shape their offer with certified schemes and academic toolkits, it may be perceived as greenwashing and backfire.
Another four trends in the Lemongrass roundup are all united by the ideas of “joy and connection” (Trend 8: The Joy Economy; Trend 9: Storied Landscapes & Mystic Travel; Trend 10: Female Narratives; and Trend 11: The Giving Journey). Rather than parroting other trend reports that emphasise the consumption of premium and luxury products, Lemongrass says travellers “crave play, hope, and restoration” and seek “genuine human interactions, joy over luxury, and encounters that delight and surprise.”
Another side to that, though, is not that consumption has gone away, but that it is becoming more intentional; people are trading off between one luxury experience and cutting back elsewhere. But they are also rejecting the notion that some choices involve a trade-off at all, with train travel increasingly viewed as a win-win that combines comfort, flexibility, scenery, and sustainability. This is the no “Sacrifice or Sermon” journey. Similarly, Near is the New Far, as trips that are closer to home offer “shorter lead times, lower risk, and greater flexibility.
Ultimately, as Lemongrass concludes: the interplay between these trends is clear and none of them stand alone: “The future of travel won’t be defined by technology alone, nor by sustainability, luxury, or wellness in isolation. It will be shaped by the way these forces interact and by the brands tuned into those connections.”
