These are the biggest travel trends of 2020

Say it: what are we going to do this summer? Are we flying or not? Are we going naked or not? Are we going to trample an already trampled Insta-village even more or are we choosing for peace? Are we going sustainable? Adult only? With grandma and grandpa? Or to China because Who is the Mole? has made you really curious about the country? I called trend watcher Lieke Lamb. These are the biggest travel trends of 2020.

1. Slo-mo is the new FOMO

Instead of rushing through a country on vacation like an insatiable whirlwind and constantly thinking: I need to see/do/experience this, this, and this, we are going to chill a bit in 2020 according to Lieke. Wonderful! ‘We are coming out of a bucket list period, but due to overstimulation on social media, you now see a need to seek more peace. Vacations where you travel slowly or even stay in one place are gaining popularity.’ This immediately brings us to the next trend…

2. ‘Second cities’ are a thing

We are leaving the most visited cities for what they are. Why go to an overcrowded, overpriced Paris, London, or Amsterdam when you can also go for a weekend to Utrecht? Or to the Wadden Islands? ‘Not only in the Netherlands do you see that the popularity of traveling to ‘second’ or even ‘third’ cities is increasing, but also in Belgium and France you see tourists looking for a lesser-known but similar destination. Also to combat overtourism. Sustainability is the umbrella under which many trends hang in 2020.’

3. The travel experience becomes more important than the destination

In short: the real fun is already in the journey itself. ‘Think of a train journey like the old Orient Express. That no longer exists, but there are many alternatives. And in Germany, for example, they are now flying with a zeppelin, a kind of airplane balloon that allows you to fly for a week because it all goes a lot slower, but if you as a tourist are not in a hurry, that doesn’t matter. Then you are on a kind of cruise ship in the air, which is already an experience in itself. And traveling by train, zeppelin, or boat can of course also be a sustainable choice.‘

4. Vacationing with grandma and grandpa
The Netherlands is aging. Every vacation could be the last. ‘Three-generation vacations are gaining popularity, where grandma and grandpa rent a house and the family with children comes to visit,’ says Lieke. ‘The current older generations are healthier and more adventurous than ever and like to stay young and active. You often see that the grandparents fully pay for these vacations.’ So grandma, when are we going?

5. Don’t forget the foodie vacations and wellness destinations…
On a yoga retreat in Thailand, a zen trip to Bali, you know the type. Oh, and according to Lieke, also a newcomer flown in from Florida: the nakation. There are more and more luxury resorts in America where you can walk around in your birthday suit, and that trend seems to be blowing over to Europe. That saves some bikini stress.

6. Flight urgency

What if flight shame becomes even greater? What if tickets become barely affordable due to an extreme flight tax? This creates a trend that Lieke calls flight urgency, families wanting to quickly go to a distant destination before flight shame completely sets in. According to her, it’s also a bit of an elite thing. ‘Suddenly people who often fly want to plant trees as compensation, but it’s still questionable to what extent you can compensate that with a tree.’

7. Painful trend: climate tourism
What if you want to go to that ice cap before it possibly melts? ‘Traveling to the North Pole, Greenland, and the South Pole is being booked more and more often out of fear that the landscape will change. And thus we contribute to mass tourism.’

8. In the footsteps of your favorite movie or series

Thanks to a clever marketing trick from a tourism board and Who is the Mole? you can finally book that China ticket. Trampling a village in Austria because it was the inspiration for Frozen. A Harry Potter trip through England. Taking a Gossip Girl tour through New York. Okay, okay, I’m guilty in the last category…

Anyway, your travel editor is diving today from head to toe into travel news at the Holiday Fair. If I come across a cool destination for 2020, you will be the first to hear about it. Bye bye.