Mass Market Adopts Slow Travel Features in 2025

Despite the many notable geopolitical, socioeconomic and climate-related challenges that remain top of mind for travel professionals and consumers, the mood at World Travel Market (WTM) – one of the world’s largest travel and hospitality industry events, which took place on 5-7 November in London – was refreshingly optimistic. Global travel sales in 2024 finally recovered from the pandemic, reaching or surpassing 2019 spending levels, depending on the segment, and are expected to grow to record levels in 2025.

“Revenge travel” is now a thing of the past. Rather than travelling at any cost, consumers are slowing down and travelling more meaningfully, even if that means they travel less often. Slow travel is being weaved into more mass travel options, empowering consumers to travel better. This was a consistent theme among the many presentations and panel discussions I attended, and from the conversations I had on the trade fair floor.

The bottom line is that consumers are spending more when they travel, even if that means they travel less often.

Average spend per trip is predicted to increase by 1.6% over the coming five years to 2029

^{Source: Euromonitor International}

In addition to a sense of optimism, this shift in consumer spending is creating some specific business opportunities. Cruises and luxury travel have benefited, destinations have focused on events, and many of the world’s largest travel operators have made a notable pivot in their offerings to allow consumers to slow down and be more engaged with destinations, communities and with one another.

Slow travel is the buzz word of 2025

“Slow travel” as a term was used widely and often at WTM in 2024. While slow travel is not new – the term has been around for years – it is being used more broadly, permeating mass travel options. Years of persistent high inflation and general uncertainty have forced consumers to learn to spend more carefully, but consumers are still spending well on things that really matter, and travel consistently remains a spending priority, even for consumers with reduced purchasing power. Mass options have become a lifeline for consumers on a budget, but here too consumers are willing to trade up to options that offer a combination of more meaningful experiences, but also good value for money and pricing transparency.

This benefited cruises in 2024. Cruise professionals at WTM claimed that younger generation travellers increasingly appreciate the all-in-one transparency that cruises offer, allowing them to save time and money by spending more efficiently. Cruise ships are also getting bigger, especially in deep-water ports in the Caribbean, to attract growing demand from US outbound tourists. Bigger ships offer more on board, and that may appeal to consumers travelling in bigger, potentially multi-generational groups that have a spectrum of needs and interests.

All-inclusive gets a luxury makeover

Like cruises, the interest in all-inclusive solutions has pushed major travel operators to rethink the value proposition of the ubiquitous packaged holiday resorts that are common across Europe. Some of the world’s largest hotel companies, chiefly Hyatt and Marriott, are reportedly trying to break into the European market with luxury versions of the many sun and sea mid-range offerings that are typical in the region.

Opportunities in the luxury travel segment reflect a surge in the luxury market more broadly for many of the same reasons discussed above. Consumers are increasingly tired of self-imposed austerity and are willing to spend bigger where it counts. The bet here is that consumers who may have booked two smaller sun and sea packaged holidays a year may spend bigger for one longer trip to a more premium resort location, for example, and build loyalty with a globally recognised brand. A fresh push into the luxury segment is likely to have a cascading impact on the European market more broadly, forcing existing resort owners to build more unique value propositions into their offerings to remain appealing.

Events, experiences and “Swiftonomics”

A final emerging theme at this year’s WTM was the growing impact of events, and the ability of global events to transform a local economy for a limited time. Given the appeal of travelling for experience, events can have an outsized influence on inbound tourism, as consumers increasingly plan and book trips to attend, for example, a concert like Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour, or a sporting event, like the Paris Olympics.

Consumers often then stay a little longer in destination to make more of the trip. Festivals and leisure events grew by 24% in value in Western Europe in 2024 (where Taylor Swift conducted a large part of her tour) compared to 12% growth in experiences overall. This is an evolution of the “bleisure” or blended travel trend, where consumers combine leisure with work, as remote working options have become more sophisticated.

48.3% of global respondents claimed that they would rather spend money on experiences than on things

^{Source: Euromonitor International Voice of the Consumer: Sustainability Survey, fielded January to February 2024 (n=40,236)}

Travel has become more purpose-driven, and when a trip has purpose, the spending that goes towards the trip becomes more meaningful. This mindset is driving up value, and is expected to lift the market into a more equitable and sustainable future.

Read our article Top Trends in Travel for 2025 for more analysis on what is driving record sales in global travel. For more analysis and a deeper dive into this industry, read our report, World Market for Travel.