Top 7 Trends Shaping Travel in 2027 with Laura Lindsay from Skyscanner

Introduction

Jason: Hey, Jason here with ZeroToTravel.com. Welcome to the show. Thanks for hanging out, letting me bring a little travel into yours today. This is the show to help you travel the world on your terms. And this is well worth your time because we’re talking about travel trends in 2027. We’re not just pulling them out of thin air. This is from Skyscanner’s comprehensive report. Skyscanner is a leading global travel booking site. They based this report off of millions of searches from their proprietary data. They also specially commissioned a survey of more than 28,000 travelers, including 2,000 Americans. And Laura Lindsay is our guest. She is the global travel and destinations expert at Skyscanner, and she’s going to highlight these top seven trends shaping travel in 2027. You’re going to discover some of the best value destinations to consider adding to your itinerary, the top experiences people are seeking out, how travelers are being more intentional about where they go, and loads more. And like I said, this is based on actual data. And Laura’s bringing her personal experience traveling to 47 countries and working in the travel industry for 15 years. She’s the perfect person to break down this Travel Trends 2027 report and help you stay ahead of the curve, stay ahead of other travelers. And it may even help you decide where to go in the coming year. So thanks for listening, and please enjoy my conversation with Laura.

How Laura Got Hooked on Travel

Jason: Laura Lindsay from Skyscanner, welcome to the Zero to Travel podcast, my friend.

Laura: Thank you for having me. It’s so good to be here.

Jason: I’m excited for this one. And as I mentioned during my pre-introduction, I think you’re the perfect person to speak on this topic because you have this combination of real-world travel experience and then the access to all this travel data from the report. And I wanted to start off with the real-world experience because you’ve been to 47 countries, which is awesome. Maybe it’s more now, I don’t know. I wanted to hear a bit about some of the more transformative trips that you’ve taken. Or maybe there was a trip earlier on that kind of hooked you into travel. Because not only do you love traveling, you’ve been to 47 countries, but you’ve been working in travel. So I’m wondering where that next level interest in travel came from for you.

Laura: Yeah, of course. I mean, I am absolutely obsessed with travel. It’s all I want to think about. I’m fortunate enough that I think about it at work, but I honestly spend my evenings and weekends thinking about it too. I was very fortunate that my parents were teachers, and so they had a good amount of holiday time at work. And I guess I was a child of the cheap flight era. It sounds almost unimaginable now, but my dad would say, “Oh, I found a cheap flight for five pounds,” you know, the equivalent of, like, seven bucks or something, and would say, “Should we just go to Sweden?” And we wouldn’t have any plan or really know where to go, and we’d probably end up in some tiny places. We weren’t necessarily going to the capital. Sometimes we were going to more suburban areas, and it was just really interesting. I just loved the discovery, and I still feel like that now. I just get such a buzz out of anywhere new. It doesn’t even have to be a jaw-dropping global landmark. I just love different cultures, meeting new people, trying new foods. And there’s just so much of the world to see. That’s so amazing.

Jason: Yeah. When you travel now, is your inclination towards less research once everything’s booked and all that kind of stuff?

Laura: It’s such a good question. I’d say probably somewhere in the middle. I know I’m a bit obsessed with trying local cuisine that is really authentic, so I do try and really hunt that out and try and work out where those places are. You know, we’ll go and queue up for a sandwich in Lisbon because it’s the thing you should try and that’s where everybody’s getting their lunch when they’re on business. So I definitely do gravitate towards some areas of research like that, but I don’t like to have everything booked because you want to be able to go with the flow of the place. For example, I had a fantastic time in Madrid just going to the food markets and perusing what was available and eating and drinking and trying, and then somebody told me that there was this street where on a Sunday everybody just hopped between bars and picked up different bits of tapas. And I was like, “Yeah, cool, I’ll go there.” And that was so fun. And I think you want to have that openness in your schedule to be able to take advice from local people. I’ve done whole trips with friends where our rule has been, let’s just ask the bartender for the next place to go and just go there. Because worst case scenario, it’s awful and you blame somebody you’ll never see again. And best case scenario, it’s amazing. And that’s worked really well. So I think there’s definitely a balance of knowing what you shouldn’t miss, but also having space.

Jason: Yeah. And what a gift growing up to have those experiences where you’re just like, hey, we’re just going to hop on this flight to this place and we really don’t know much about it. I mean, I’m with you. I love the asking and seeing where you end up type of thing. Sometimes, like you said, it comes back to bite you, but I’d say most times it keeps things interesting. I know we’re going to talk about a lot as we dive into this report, but I am going to let everybody know listening, we’re going to hear your personal number one hidden gem destination that is not on the Skyscanner Travel Trends report. Maybe a place to consider going before it gets more discovered. That’s kind of how I describe those things. So you can stick around for that.

Why Travel Trends Matter

Jason: I think it would be good if we dive into this report a little bit. Well, first of all, give us some context for the report, because that’s always a good place to start. And I want you to tell listeners on the back of that why it’s important to stay on top of travel trends in the first place. I find it personally beneficial, but I’d love to hear your thoughts on that.

Laura: Absolutely. I’d say Travel Trends is a real pinnacle moment for us as a business because we sit in this really unique position where travelers come to Skyscanner, most of them when they don’t even know where they want to go yet. Our flagship feature, the Everywhere search, people will come to Skyscanner and say, “I want to go somewhere at some time. Help me.”

Jason: That is my favorite search. It’s my favorite travel search. It’s addictive, right? Like, the possibilities are endless.

Laura: And that’s a huge privilege for us as a business to be in that situation. And so the fact that we know so many travelers come to us while they’re still in decision-making mode means that we can really see in the data where the big shifts are as people start to make those decisions with us. One of the lists I always love the most is the fastest rising destinations, so the trending pieces, which are not the places which are the most popular, because they tend to stay the same. You tend to get your big global capital cities on those lists year on year. But what comes through each year in terms of places that are increasingly popular changes so dramatically as trends change and people’s interests change. And so we can see that. But we also hold this really interesting place where we speak to the industry every day. We are connecting those consumers with 1,200 different partners across the globe, and so we’re able to understand what is affecting their supply, their demand, and the ways that they’re serving customers. And as somebody who, even before I worked at Skyscanner, was desperate for that sort of information, I feel lucky to be able to package that up now and help people understand that if you’ve got a little bit of industry intel, then you can unlock even more of those possibilities in really smart ways. And I think that’s what this report does. It helps people understand, next year, these are some of the big things that you’re going to care about, and you’re going to be really chuffed that you were having a coffee with a friend telling them that you knew that first. That, for me, is the real magic of this.

Overtourism and Beating the Crowds

Jason: Yeah, I love that. I feel like I’m fortunate to be equally in love with travel as you are, of course, and everybody listening. And I feel like I’m in a bit of a bubble because I get to host this podcast, so I get to hear about these things. And this is a good reminder. It’s not necessarily the average traveler geeking out on these reports, but these can really change your on-the-ground experiences and your approach to travel in a positive way, just being aware of this stuff. And there’s one section of the report, Future of Travel, and one of the things I pulled out of that is this idea that overtourism is influencing destination choice. And I think nobody in this audience, myself included, is going to sit here and say, “Oh, we’re not going to go to Paris or whatever because it’s so crowded.” I mean, you still want to see those iconic places, but you also want to know about some of the alternatives and some of the other places that may be worth considering. And that definitely changes your on-the-ground experience if you’re not battling with hordes of tourists and things like that. And I noticed that’s one of the shifts that you guys mentioned. How do you want to dive into this? I was thinking first we would cover the destinations portion, because we always love a good destinations conversation, and then next we’d unpack the seven trends that you identified that are shaping travel in the coming year. Does that sound like a good way to tackle this?

Laura: Yeah, that sounds great. I can talk you through the trending destinations, and I can also touch on that overtourism point that you mentioned, because I think that is something that is really, really interesting to anybody who’s thinking about travel next year. There’s nobody who’s sitting here saying, “I’m desperate to go somewhere where there’s hordes and hordes of people.” But there’s also people who are listening saying, “I do really want to go to Rome. It’s always been on my bucket list. How do I navigate that?” And I think the thing that we try to do is help equip people with as much information as possible so that they’re able to understand the best ways to get the result for them. So to give you a good example, I went to Rome this year, and I had the same concerns. This is a city which is packed full of culture and landmarks that you absolutely can’t miss. But I also recognize that the Colosseum is extremely busy. You need to book super far in advance. You need to know when the tickets come out, and you need to be ready to book them. And if you don’t have that information, then you could potentially miss out on the whole reason why you were there. One of the things that we did, which I really recommend people consider: we knew that the Trevi Fountain gets really busy. It’s quite a small space and can get quite cramped with people trying to take photos. We picked a hotel that was close to the Trevi Fountain so that we could get there for 7 a.m. and have a look. There’s barely anybody there. We could be right at the front and get some nice photos. And it didn’t change our trip dramatically. It was a nice hotel that we stayed in, it was a nice district, and we were able to access everywhere. But it just meant that we weren’t having a 5 a.m. alarm because we really wanted to see the Trevi Fountain when it was quiet. So I think sometimes it’s about the hacky ways of doing things. Visiting slightly out of season, visiting at different times of day, getting ahead of booking windows. Those sorts of things can make a huge difference.

Jason: Yeah. The last time I went to Rome, it was February and it was still packed. And it was probably the most overplanned trip. My wife had never been. It was for her birthday, and I’m like, well, we have to go to the Vatican Museum, we have to do that. And in order to do those things, you really had to book them in advance there. And that’s how I personally approach the destinations where I know they’re probably going to be crowded, but there’s still these amazing things to see. These bucket list things, for people that like that term, or life list things, or whatever you want to call it. Do you have one of those, like a bucket list or a life list or something like that?

Laura: I feel like it’s more of a constant monologue that is in my mind than an official list that I’ve written down. There’s definitely places that I’m desperate to go to, but I also have this view of spacing them out through life. So there’s certain places, like, I’d love to go to Iceland, but I don’t feel like I need to go this year. I feel like that’s a place that I’ll probably go when my kids are older and excited about the drama of volcanic activity. So I think that there’s an opportunity to have a bucket list that’s for life. So I guess “life list” is probably how you should term it.

Jason: Yeah, it is a good idea maybe to go to some of the more, let’s call them challenging places, or challenging things you want to do. I always encourage people when they’re younger, if there are physical… well, not to get too much into the trends, but we might tease out a little bit that physicality might be intertwined with one of these trends. But if you’re wanting to do a real physical adventure, like hiking Machu Picchu or some type of thing like that, it doesn’t mean you can’t go later, but it is a bit easier to go at certain periods of your life, I would say. Now, thinking about hiking, I’m glad I did it when I was younger. I will say that. I can still do it, I hope. Knocking on wood here.

Top Trending Destinations for 2027

Jason: Okay. Well, from the data you collected, in terms of top trending destinations and best value destinations, those were the two categories that you branched these off into. Do you want to share some of them? How do you want to tackle these destinations in a way that would be valuable to people listening?

Laura: Let me take you through the top 10 trending destinations, and then I’ll pick out a couple which I’ll go into in a bit more detail for your listeners, because there are certainly some in the US that people will probably be quite familiar with. We actually found that Florida appears really heavily this year in trending destinations. So at number one, we’ve got Vero Beach, which had a 201% increase in searches. As I say, these are the places which are increasing in interest rather than the places that are the most popular. They’re the fastest rising in interest. We also had Bimini in the Bahamas, with almost a 150% search increase. At number three, we’ve got Olbia in Italy. I just wanted to touch on that one to give a bit more context. That was a 142% search increase, so these are big numbers. Olbia is actually a small city in Sardinia, on the east coast. It’s the jumping off point to the Costa Smeralda. And this is a reaction to the increasing interest in Italy as a destination. But going back to our point around wanting to get off the beaten track, or get somewhere that people haven’t been before, Olbia is a location that probably doesn’t spring to mind immediately for most people when they think about Italy. But it gives you a really, really interesting entry point to some of the most incredible beaches in Europe, and incredible Italian food in a location with a real community feel. It’s not super busy. There are lots of local people out with their families having dinner in the evening. Sardinia is also quite rural, so there’s lots of agritourism. And that combination of things has risen in interest with consumers as they’re starting to think, “Okay, I love Italy. I love the experience I get from Rome or Florence. I’ve considered Naples. But where else can I go to get that great food, great culture, some lovely weather and beaches, but also somewhere that maybe I haven’t been to before, or somewhere that I haven’t discussed with friends who’ve been there before?” And so Olbia has risen up to number three, which is super interesting.

Laura: I’ll keep running you through the list and pick out some of those examples. We’ve got Da Nang in Vietnam. That’s also over a 100% increase in searches. We’ll come on later to talk about our Currency Chasers trend, but that’s a location that’s offering particularly good value for money for people, and so it’s in the list this year. Then at number five, we’ve got Puebla in Mexico. And number six, we’ve got Stockholm in Sweden. That was a 99% search increase. Another really interesting one as we see people start to think about parts of Europe that maybe they hadn’t previously considered. Scandi cool is just something which people are so into from an aesthetic perspective. The fashion, the culture, the interior design have really permeated popular culture, and it’s made that part of the world become a lot more interesting to people. Copenhagen’s had a real moment in the limelight for a few years, and this is another example of travelers coming to Skyscanner to think about ways that they can explore those possibilities and maybe find alternative, almost dupe-like locations. Stockholm is an incredibly picturesque, walkable, easy city with some really interesting landmarks. They’ve got something called the Vasa Museum, which is an incredibly well-preserved historical ship. I went as a child, probably about 11, and it still sticks with me as something that was like, “Wow, this is really cool.” There’s great food. And if you go in the winter, you can experience snow, which for a lot of people can be exciting too, depending on where you’re usually based. So Stockholm is in there at number six.

Laura: I mentioned US destinations really dominating this list. So Destin in Florida and Amarillo in Texas, both had 90% plus search increases. We’ve then got Glasgow in Scotland, which is a location which has increased in popularity. Again, that kind of culture that people are looking for. Britain has had a huge interest in international tourism, but again, people are looking for locations that they perhaps haven’t been to before, and jumping off points to other parts of Scotland too. And then finishing up at number 10, we’ve got Daytona Beach in Florida, which had a 65% search increase. So there’s a real mix there of some longer haul destinations for American travelers, but also some closer to home domestic destinations too.

Jason: Okay. And to give people a sense of where you’re pulling these numbers, correct me if I’m wrong, but you’re pulling this from millions of searches.

Laura: Yes, absolutely. There are millions of searches happening on our platform every day, and we’re able to extrapolate from where people are looking. We don’t know who the people are or data about them, but what we do know is where people are looking from and to. And from that, we’re able to determine the places which are increasing in interest the most. And to give you an example of how that plays out, I did this interview a couple of years ago where we saw huge interest in Albania. And at the time, the interviewers were saying to me, “Albania, really?” And now everybody’s going, “Yeah, Albania, great. I’ve been. Fantastic beaches, really good value for money.” And it just exploded in terms of popularity, but we were able to see that so early in the numbers.

Jason: Okay. I just wanted to cement that in people’s minds. These are pulled from some serious data, some serious numbers. And I love that real-world example, because I have some good friends that just came back from Albania, actually. And I guess the takeaway here as you shared this, and I think the Italy example was a good one, is if you want to beat the crowds… because these are just the searches. They’re not necessarily the people that have traveled there yet, but it seems like it’s trending in that direction. So if you want to beat the crowds and see some of these places, getting there sooner rather than later, or reprioritizing your goals in the coming year or two if one of these destinations piqued your interest, may be a good idea.

Best Value Destinations for 2027

Laura: Absolutely. And Albania is actually a really nice segue into best value destinations as well, because Tirana in Albania is number 10 on the list. Our best value destinations list is calculated a slightly different way. It’s year over year airfare declines. Your listeners are savvy travelers. They will have spent a lot of time following what’s been happening with jet fuel and understanding that there have been some increases in price in the space. However, what’s been really interesting is that this is an industry that adapts really, really well to change, and it’s very used to that. It’s a really multifaceted industry. And there’s been a lot of noise around the increase in the price of fuel and the impact that might have on airlines. But we’ve also seen airlines be very competitive where they can be, and we’ve seen prices drop as well. And one of the biggest reasons for this is that the main reason for an airfare price is demand and supply, rather than anything else. It’s the biggest factor. So going back to that tip around going places before the crowds do, when you follow the crowds, you’re actually likely to pay more money unless there’s massively increased supply to meet that demand. And so it’s really smart to consider places that other people aren’t.

Laura: I’ll just give you a bit of a breakdown of some of those best value destinations. We’ve got Toulouse in France and Bologna in Italy, which are 25% less to fly to than they were last year. And when we think about that example of what people are interested in at the moment, we’ll come on to talk about our Grand Odysseys trend, where those big cinematic moments are really influencing people’s interest in ancient history. So Gladiator II, The Odyssey. People are starting to get really, really interested. We saw in the data that a hugely significant part of the population of travelers that we talked to wanted to go and see historical landmarks and museums. And Bologna is a great example of an Italian city with so much history, but also an incredible food culture. It’s the home of some of the most iconic Italian dishes that we all know and love. So for both Toulouse and Bologna to drop in price that much, that’s a real win for travelers. Then closer to home, we’ve got Providence, Rhode Island, 17% cheaper than it was last year. And now I’ll pick out a few from the list. The Gold Coast in Australia is 15% cheaper than it was last year.

Jason: That was surprising.

Laura: Yeah. And that’s a good example of where you can search via a multitude of airports at once, and that’s something that I’d recommend people consider in terms of flexibility, because sometimes there can be high demand on a particular location at a particular time. So let’s say you were considering going to Australia and you just searched to fly to Sydney, because that’s the most obvious entry point. But if it also happens to be the Sydney Marathon that weekend, or there’s a major event going on, maybe a concert that you weren’t aware of, you might be accidentally paying a premium for that. Whereas you may find that a different entry point could save you a significant amount of money. Then further afield, we’ve got Buenos Aires in Argentina, another great foodie destination. I could wax lyrical for hours about the food in Buenos Aires. And then we’ve got Prague, which is 13% cheaper than it was last year. And Nice in France, so France is offering good value for money, and that’s obviously a great jumping off point to the French Riviera. And then, as we said, at number 10 was Tirana in Albania, which is just really increasing in popularity. I think as a result of that, airlines have increased supply, and then you’re seeing that stabilization of prices and prices actually dropping back down to meet that increased demand. So I would say that from a good value for money consideration, there’s a huge amount of opportunity out there. And the one that I would call out for your listeners to think about is Vietnam, which we mentioned is in the trending destinations. And that’s hugely thanks to the fact that the currency rates are more favorable for US travelers right now, so it’s offering good value for money.

Jason: Thanks, that’s a great breakdown. And to second your point on being aware of what festivals and concerts may be happening when you book: one of the times we took a road trip to Sweden, we got a hotel. I live in Norway, so we can drive there. And I said, “What are all these people doing at this hotel pool at 10 in the morning drinking beer?” I’m there with my kids. It was a Bruce Springsteen concert later that day. Springsteen was in town. We had no idea. So everywhere we went, there were a bunch of people partying and getting ready for the Springsteen show. But hey, it happens to all of us sometimes, sometimes in a good way. I’ve showed up in towns where there’s an amazing festival going on, and I booked far enough in advance that I didn’t have to pay a premium, and I had no idea. Now I get to be a part of this. Those clueless traveler gifts are always nice.

Laura: Springsteen interrupted my group trip to Barcelona. We weren’t able to see the Camp Nou as a result, so I feel your pain.

Jason: Springsteen. Well, we’ll reach out to him and let him know he needs to cross-check with our travel schedules before he books his next concert.

How to Get the Most Out of Skyscanner

Jason: Before we dive into some of the other portions of the travel trends, I was wondering about Skyscanner specifically, as a tool for anything coming out of this conversation. What’s the best way to use it? How do people use what you have to offer in a way that’s going to benefit them? Do you want to give us the 101 on using it? This is a good opportunity, because you often don’t get to talk to somebody that’s working directly at a big travel booking site like this, so I’m just curious to have your thoughts on that.

Laura: Yeah, of course. One of the things that Skyscanner does really, really well is it allows you to start your travel search with as little information as possible, and it will help you move through that journey. As we’ve talked about, you can start your search with “I want to go everywhere,” and as long as you know your departure point, or even a couple of nearby airports, it can give you a list of places that you can go across the entire globe, ordered by price. You might say, “I’m really clear on the destination that I want to go to.” In that case, I would say come to us and search with flexibility on dates, and that will help you understand when you can go at a price that suits you. The other thing that not many people are aware of, but is a good tool if you’ve got a fixed destination in mind, is something called price alerts. So if you’ve got a particular route, let’s say you want to fly back home to see family and you know that it’s a particularly busy time of year, you can set up a price alert for the dates and the route that you’re looking for, and it can let you know if prices go up or down. So it can help you make your decision on when to book. The other one, which is super cool, and something that we’ve had for a little while now, but I think people are still getting their heads around, is something called Drops. That’s a feature which you’ll find in our app, and it tells you where there are routes that have dropped significantly lower than their average price. So essentially, it’s a great value for money opportunity. And if you’re the type of people that it sounds like we are, and I’m sure your listeners are, you’re pretty much open-minded to go anywhere and you can be swayed by a bit of intel like that. To be able to turn to friends or your partner and say, “Did you know we could go to Madrid for 60 pounds or dollars if we went next weekend?” Suddenly that feels like a really compelling opportunity. And so I’d really recommend that people keep an eye on that Drops feature, because it definitely sparks the travel bug even more.

Jason: I love that. So that would be on the app, right? People would have to go to the app for that.

Laura: Yes.

Jason: Okay, great. So essentially, for the first two examples, it’s allowing you to cast a wider net in terms of destinations, with search everywhere or flexibility on dates, and then honing in with the alerts if you have a specific thing, or, as you mentioned, the Drops and that openness.

Travel That Reflects How You Want to Live: Gym-cation

Jason: I think that openness… this is one of the things that I read in the report. For my audience, for you listening right now, I don’t know if this will be a surprise to you, but it was a bit of a surprise to me in terms of when I think of mass travel, or mass tourism, for lack of a better term. Because in the report you said, quote, “Travel has always promised an escape, but next year travelers will choose trips that better reflect how they want to live.” And again, for my audience, that’s probably been par for the course for a lot of us. We’ve been traveling with an intention in that way for a long time. But I think that’s a pretty huge shift in how the majority of people approach travel. Would you agree with that?

Laura: Yeah. Travel perhaps in the past was seen as a time when you could put aside who you normally are and lie on a sun lounger and read a book for a week. And for some people, that still will be the way that they want to travel. But what we saw in the research is that a lot of people want to spend their time really meaningfully, and that means not hanging up who they are for a week, but continuing to keep some of the things that matter to them. So for example, we saw that for a lot of people, still being able to exercise and keep their fitness routines is really, really important to them. We found that people were more likely to choose accommodation which has access to fitness facilities, or to use fitness apps or wellness apps. We partnered with a company called ClassPass, where you can access gym or fitness classes at a multitude of different studios when you’re in a location. And things like Pilates have had an absolute explosion in searches when people are traveling. So people don’t want to give up their usual routines while they’re away.

Jason: Okay. So what you just touched on here is one of the seven trends you mentioned. Since you mentioned it, we can just dive in. The gym-cation, you all called it, and that idea of getting your workout in on a holiday being a deal breaker, as you say in the report. Is there anything else around that you want to highlight as a travel trend?

Laura: We actually partnered with TikTok to understand whether, while we were seeing this in our data, it was being seen in theirs too. And they had a 659% increase in searches for the term “gym hotels.” So people are really choosing their accommodation based on that. And interestingly as well, healthy breakfasts were something that people were prioritizing when they booked their accommodation.

Jason: I love a good hotel breakfast. In Scandinavia, we’ve got some great ones here. We’ve got some epic hotel breakfasts. If I’m booking a hotel, I do want the breakfast included. I’m a little bit of a breakfast snob at the hotel when it comes to that.

Laura: It’s a really interesting one that is a real divider of people. One of the best experiences I had was staying in a hotel where the breakfast that was included transpired to not be on site, and they had partnered with cafes across the town. Each day you had a different cafe that would serve you breakfast. And it was such a nice way to try lots of different places, but you still felt like your breakfast was included.

Jason: Yeah, that’s true. I give that with the caveat. It is nice to go out and explore the meal, but some cultures just don’t really do breakfast. I come from a very breakfast-driven culture. Going out to breakfast in the US is something that people do, but it’s not necessarily like that everywhere. Certainly not here in Norway. I haven’t found it yet. I’ve tried a couple of times, but it just can’t be done.

Grand Odysseys and Sound Bound

Jason: All right. Well, let’s go through the other six from this list. I know you mentioned earlier, before we were recording, that a couple of these might tie in together, if you want to go in that direction.

Laura: Yeah, that’s right. Well, we touched a little bit on the growing interest in culture, and that is reflected in the trends. I touched on the Grand Odysseys trend, which is really that cinematic influence. We always see big entertainment moments influence and inspire people to travel. But we have seen that more than half of Americans in the data that we pulled for next year have traveled to a location because of a historical event or the mythical storytelling of a classic civilization. 51% of those travelers cited historical figures like Alexander the Great, and 48% of people told us that they wanted to go and see architectural wonders like the Colosseum that we talked about, or Pompeii. So we’re really seeing that history and culture come through. And that links similarly to the other trend that we saw, which is called Sound Bound, which is about people wanting to go to locations to experience music. Music travel is not something new, but what is specific about this trend is that people want to do it in venues which are distinct. There’s been such a big arena tour influence on travel. There’s no question that Taylor Swift’s tour has had a huge impact on travel and a massive movement of people. But what we’re seeing is that it’s evolving into people wanting to see an artist in their home location, or wanting to see a gig in a really iconic venue. So places like Nashville are becoming really, really popular, and people want to go to the Grand Ole Opry. That’s something that we’re seeing. And going back to that broader theme for 2027 travel, it is around people wanting to spend their time in really meaningful ways, and that means getting under the skin of a location in a new and different way.

Jason: Yeah. Having formerly lived in Boulder, Colorado, which is just down the road from Red Rocks… I’m not sure if you’ve heard of Red Rocks Amphitheatre. It’s an iconic venue surrounded by beautiful red rocks. And that’s the first place I thought of when I thought about the Sound Bound trend: people coming to see their favorite artists at Red Rocks, or at the Gorge, or at Madison Square Garden. Have you done trips like that before personally?

Laura: I have. Red Rocks is now on my list, because that’s new to me. But yeah, I’ve certainly done the Nashville pilgrimage and watched lots of country music there, which was fantastic. But also, living in London, I’ve been to gigs where everyone around me has traveled for miles to see it, and that is really fascinating. The Albert Hall is an iconic venue, and you can understand why people would travel such distances to experience it.

Jason: Absolutely. For the other trend, I’m just curious if you know offhand. You mentioned Grand Odysseys, with historical events and ancient civilizations being a big reason for travel. Do you know offhand if that includes… I’m going to use an example from your backyard. Harry Potter, for example. Movie-type, mythical worlds that are not historical, but they are a draw.

Laura: Yeah. So Harry Potter is an interesting one, because I don’t think it would fall into the Grand Odysseys category. It’s probably not ancient enough. But what I would say is that entertainment and cinema is a pervasive theme through travel. It’s something that we see every single year, but there will be certain flicker points in the year that really come out. And Harry Potter is almost one of those that’s always on. So many people travel to the UK to see so many sites which are featured in the books and the films, and I’m sure that the new series coming out will pique that interest yet again. So yeah, that’s one that is in the always-on category, I would say.

Jason: Yeah, it’s an interesting category. I was just thinking about these tangential things that could be semi-related. Some neighbors just went to Liverpool so they could see a game there, because it was one of their son’s dreams to do that. And you think about it, okay, there is a historical element to something like that, right? The team’s been around for a long time. You have the history in the field and all that kind of stuff. So there are versions of that that I find fascinating.

Laura: Yeah, sport is another one that’s an always-on theme that we see in travel. I’m also one of those individuals who will travel specifically for football. I did a tour of Brazil just to experience the atmosphere there. And I can absolutely see how that is something which just captures hearts and minds and influences travel. But you will see big shifts in demand around big international moments, so the Olympics, World Cups, those sorts of things. You’ll see a big shift in behaviors because of sport.

Currency Chasers and Merch Tourism

Jason: Sure. Okay, so we’ve covered gym-cation, exercising on holiday. Sound Bound, that idea of traveling for music. Grand Odysseys, historical events, ancient civilizations, and the like. We’ve got four more by my count. Where do you want to go next?

Laura: Yeah, let me couple two together which are interesting. Currency Chasers is one which we touched on a little bit earlier. Value for money. A lot of people, as I mentioned, will be thinking about the cost of a flight ticket, and we’ve talked a lot about how they can find the best value flights. But another recommendation would always be to think about the cost of the whole trip. There are a lot of places you can get to with super cheap flights, but when you get there, you might find that accommodation is expensive, for example. A good example of that is if you try to go to Italy in August, when lots of Italians are traveling in Italy themselves, so there’s high demand for accommodation. It’s cheap to get there, but you’ll be limited and paying a premium for the accommodation. And so Currency Chasers is a trend that we’ve seen, particularly spurred on by people becoming more financially literate, as fintech provides a more accessible way to understand what is happening with foreign exchange rates. In fact, 41% of American travelers told us that they’ve swapped a destination for their vacation because an exchange rate made it cheaper. And that’s something which is really shifting how people think about where they travel, and that obviously will flex as market economies flex too. Take Norway, where you’re based, where your kroner doesn’t always go too far. It can be more of an expensive destination, but it can offer some really good value unique accommodation and pretty cheap flights to get there. I would say don’t write places off because you think they’re expensive. Think about the cost of the whole trip. But in contrast to that, it’s also worth thinking about the whole trip and seeing the places where you get the best value for money and where your dollar will go the furthest.

Jason: I can imagine this trend specifically can tie in with some of the destinations that appear on the trending destinations and best value destinations lists that you shared earlier, when I think about Buenos Aires, or Prague, or Albania. I guess those would be good ones, where it’s really good value. I’m not sure if the data can reflect this or if it’s measurable, but those must sort of feed into each other at times.

Laura: Yeah, absolutely. And that ties us nicely to the next trend, which is Merch Tourism. This is where we’re seeing people travel and think about the purchases that they make on their trip as part of their identity. I’m sure we’ve all done it. We’ve been into a cool hipster coffee shop in our holiday destination, they sell a t-shirt, and we bought it because we want people to know that we travel to interesting places. We want to put money into an independent business, and we know that no one’s going to have it when we get home. And that’s becoming more and more popular. So again, going back to that point of the all-up trip, if shopping is something that you plan to do when you’re there, having a destination in mind where your dollar is going to go further is definitely going to make that a lot more valuable.

Jason: We got our kids an I Heart New York t-shirt. I’m not going to lie. That’s not why we went, but you’ve got to do what you’ve got to do.

Laura: Exactly. And I’m sure they cherish it as well.

Jason: Actually, I don’t know if my son’s worn it yet. Those shirts aren’t cheap.

Together Trips

Jason: Okay. All right, jokes aside, what do we have left here on the list? Currency Chasers and Merch Tourism…

Laura: So the next one I want to talk about is Together Trips. Something that we have noticed in the data and in the way that people are engaging with group travel is that you’re more and more seeing people combine those types of trips. Bachelor and bachelorette trips coming together in one single trip. And part of the reason for that is that people are potentially getting married later in life, which is seeing friendship groups blend more as you’re living your lives together. Another reason is that it saves money. If you’re going to ask your friends to get away, combining that ask into one can be both more economical and more convenient. So that’s one that we’ve seen come through in the data this year as well, which is really interesting.

Signal Severance

Laura: And then the last one that we can finish up with is probably a bit of a divider of people, but I think it makes a lot of sense when you drill into it. This is something called Signal Severance. We probably all feel it. Our daily lives are just a multitude of notifications, and it’s kind of hard to switch off.

Jason: Oh gosh, the noise.

Laura: And that was something that we found, and it’s really interesting. We already know that people find going overseas is an automatic shift in their brain in terms of “I now have license to be less available.” That’s something that we already knew in the psychology of travel. But that’s coming through even more acutely in the data for 2027, where we’re seeing that people are considering going completely off grid, and sometimes choosing locations that are without signal at all, so that it’s not even an option. I’ve even seen retreats where you can go and literally sit in the dark for 48 hours without any sort of stimulation at all. So that’s the real extreme end of that spectrum. But what we know is that people are recognizing that it’s taking them much longer to disconnect when they do get away. 38% of Americans told us that it takes them a bit of time to disconnect from their daily lives when they do get away. And so they want to disconnect entirely so that they can really connect with the place itself and the people they’re with. Over 50% of people are looking to do that. So that feels like a real shift in the way that people are thinking about travel. It’s no longer about “What’s the Wi-Fi password?” It’s more about “How can I put my phone away for a while?”

Jason: Well, how do you handle that, Laura? You’re the global travel and destinations expert at Skyscanner. You have a busy job.

Laura: That’s right. It is a balance. I would say that there are sometimes trips where you really know that it’s important that you completely disconnect. For example, on my honeymoon, I went to Mauritius, and my partner and I discussed, should we go and buy an eSIM and be able to still connect with back home? Or actually, no, let’s take this trip as one where we’re just going to be in the location and be really present. And not being able to have your phone on data, or knowing that it would cost you quite a lot of money to do that, meant that we just became really accustomed to not being on our phones. And we didn’t have that temptation to join the Wi-Fi in the hotel, because that was a trip that we wanted to be really present on. There are definitely trips where it’s less easy to do that. If you’re in New York and you’re already trying to work out how to get tickets for a Knicks game, you’re already deep into the internet. I maybe don’t disconnect quite so much, and I probably still keep a bit of connection with the job and home. But I think you can be intentional with it and take those moments when you know you need them.

Jason: Yeah, it’s interesting how it can sneak back in on a trip, because there are a lot of things that require the telephone. You would think, okay, I can be off grid, but then all of a sudden I need it for the public transportation system, or the local kiosk is out of the paper cards they sell, so now you have to download the app, and on and on and on. It is challenging.

Laura: Yeah. And there are pros and cons. I’ve traveled pre-smartphone and been in cities where I have absolutely no idea where I am and no idea how to work my way out of where I am, and that requires a level of initiative that I’m proud of when you don’t speak the language and you can’t read the alphabet. There’s definitely value in having that experience, and you can still absolutely have that experience today if you want to. But then there are other times. I had a taxi in Brazil where I used a translate tool on my phone for the entire journey, and I couldn’t have got by without it. So there are definite pros and cons, but I think it’s nice to see that society is recognizing the value of switching off, and knowing that travel can give them the opportunity to do so.

Jason: Yeah. And to your point, I would encourage anybody who’s never done it… because I traveled, dating myself here, pre-smartphone as well. Figuring everything out without it is a good reminder that you are a resourceful individual, even if you end up lost on the streets of Prague at four in the morning. Not saying that happened to me. It did. But you know what I mean? It’s a good lesson, I think, in resourcefulness, and in what we’re capable of. I’ll tell a quick short story and then I’m going to ask you about this hidden gem recommendation. In 2008, I was in Brazil with my buddy who works for a pretty prestigious consulting firm. And this is 2008, mind you. It was a foreign idea to me that somebody would be on a device doing things. But every morning he was sending emails. He had a BlackBerry and he was doing all these things. And I was just thinking, “What is he doing? What is all this stuff he’s doing?” Well, it turns out he was working remotely, which ended up being a huge portion of my life. But at the time, I don’t think I foresaw how much that would change travel, all the way up to now, where we’re talking about Signal Severance being one of the trends in the coming year. I feel like it’s been a bit of a journey with the digital stuff, where people have really embraced it and then they’ve realized, oh, this can be detrimental to certain aspects of my life. Now I need to dial it back. Pun intended, sorry. It’s interesting when I think back on my own life and my own travels and being around it, to see how the landscape around that stuff has changed.

Laura’s Best Advice for Travel in 2027

Jason: Okay, based on everything we’ve just heard, I want to ask, what is your best advice for travel in the coming year?

Laura: I would always say go, and go in a way that is right for you. Travel doesn’t have to be big, two weeks, 5,000 miles. Travel can be short haul from where you live. But that discovery piece is what makes you feel richer at the end of it. And how you spend your time well is the thing that I think is worth focusing on in 2027. Having that flexibility about where you go, and that open-mindedness, will ultimately give people adventures that they’ll look back on for the rest of their lives. And that feels like such a gift to be able to give.

Jason: I love that. This ties in, I think, with one of the big mindset things I pulled out from the Future of Travel section of this report: travel as a, quote, “worthwhile investment” instead of a luxury. I think that also ties in with that idea of choosing trips that better reflect how you want to live. I like thinking of it as one of those rare investments where you don’t really know what you’re getting in return. But if you love travel, you know you’re going to get something great. You just don’t know what. When you buy a house, you know what you’re getting. You’re getting that house. Well, maybe with some surprises. You buy that car, you’re getting that car. You buy that flat screen TV, you’re getting that thing and taking it home. But with travel, it’s hard. That idea that it’s a worthwhile investment, I think, is the thing that drives me and keeps me going. Because it can be hard. We have bills and all these other things. You think about it: is it an indulgence or is it a worthwhile investment?

Laura: And that’s something that we talk about at Skyscanner all the time. As a type of purchase, travel is one of the most emotional purchases that people can make. It’s often to see people that they love or to do something that they’ve dreamed of, and we take that responsibility really seriously. For us, people going on trips and having a great time is really important, and that’s why we have things like trusted provider guidance on our platform. And we have so many different service providers that you can book with, which means that people will discover airlines they’ve never heard of before that might have world-class service, or that will mean they can fly at a better time for what they need to do, or that they can have a trip with a direct flight rather than an indirect flight, which might give them an extra eight hours in their chosen location. Things like that will help people get the best value for money and the best experience overall, and I think that’s something that, as an industry, we should all be invested in.

Jason: I love that that’s top of mind over there with you guys. By the way, we’ll link up to skyscanner.com. Is that the best place for people to go, just to the homepage, and explore? We’ll also link up to the trends report, of course.

Laura: Yeah, that’s right. Skyscanner.com, or download our app and you’ll get all of those features that we talked about earlier.

Laura’s Hidden Gem: Norway

Jason: Awesome. Do you want to share your number one hidden gem recommendation?

Laura: I do. Although I’m slightly nervous to recommend it, because I thought about it before we had this conversation.

Jason: We won’t tell anybody. It’s just us here.

Laura: Well, knowing that you’re based in Norway, that was going to be my recommendation. I think it’s a destination that people immediately write off because they think it’s expensive and they don’t know much about it. But it actually offers some of the most incredible landscapes that are free to access. It’s got such a welcoming culture, and food that people have probably never even considered trying that is out of this world. I’ve been lucky enough… I live in Europe, and I can pop over to Norway relatively easily. My mum lived there before I was born.

Jason: Really?

Laura: Yeah. I’m fortunate enough to have a fluent speaker in the house, so I’ve been able to see lots of Norway. And it’s somewhere that every time I go, friends go, “Really?” And I’m like, “Yes, it’s incredible.” And I just wish more people considered it as a destination, because it is phenomenal.

Jason: Okay, I did not expect that. You weren’t supposed to tell anybody about Norway. No, I’m kidding. That’s great. Did you learn any Norwegian?

Laura: Most of mine is from when I was a small child. So I can sing “Baa Baa Black Sheep,” but that won’t get me very far when I’m trying to book a train ticket.

Jason: Well, it might. Norwegians love to hear people speak their language. Is your mom Norwegian, then?

Laura: No, no, she just lived there for work. She was an English teacher. But we’ve been very lucky to have lots of friends there and be able to spend time there. Fantastic place. And even though we’ve got a location that we go to see friends, we’ve gone and explored the rest of the country, and there are things that you just wouldn’t even expect. For example, my husband booked us a trip near Bergen where we stayed in something called a Birdbox. I don’t know if you’ve ever seen one, but it’s one of those accommodation types that have sprung up in the last seven or eight years, where they’re just really unusual structures. This is basically a big glass box that you couldn’t get away with in most countries. But in Norway, there’s so much land and so few people that you’re able to have an enormous glass box that you can sleep in, and you’ve just got this endless view. It was absolutely out of this world, and it felt very much like a lifelong memory.

Jason: I’ve heard of those. That’s amazing. I haven’t had the privilege to stay in one yet, but that’s so cool you did that. Any other places in Norway that you love?

Laura: I’ve been fortunate enough to have a little bit of an experience of the hytte culture. So a bit of Signal Severance. I’ve been to locations, and I’m probably going to butcher the pronunciation, but like Huggalaboo, where I did some early skiing as a child. And really getting out into nature is just fantastic. It feels like a real part of the culture to be able to get out in the snow and the woods, have some great food, and be with nature.

Jason: That’s amazing. I agree with you. The hytte, the cabin culture in Norway, is pretty strong. And I agree, the perception of the expense is real if you’re going out and drinking beers and having meals out every night. But if you’re seeing nature, and maybe doing it more like a local with a cabin or some of these other things, like you said, it can be totally off the radar.

Laura: Absolutely. I would say that a pølse, which is the Norwegian equivalent of a hot dog, is one of my favorite things to eat, and it costs barely anything. I think it’s about a euro. That’s not something that people would maybe consider, but it’s a super affordable way to have local food that locals would eat and go around the city. So like you say, I think it’s about the choices that you make when you’re on the ground.

Jason: I love it. Well, I literally have almost 80 pølse, 80 hot dogs, in my refrigerator because we’re having a children’s party later, and I have to go cook them up now.

Final Thoughts

Jason: But this has been such a pleasure. I think you left us some great inspiration with all of the material. Of course, the resource skyscanner.com is your place to start your planning, and do that Everywhere search, and just have fun and play and dream, and maybe even lock in a trip for the coming year. And “just go” is something you said, but I was wondering if there’s anything else you want to wrap this one up with. Either a challenge, a call to action, a favorite quote, anything. I’ll give it to you.

Laura: I guess the one thing I would say is that the number of people I’ve spoken to who have gone somewhere they never expected they would go because of the Everywhere search, and loved it, is astounding, and is a real gem of where I get to work. I hear those stories all the time. And honestly, part of the reason I came to work here: there was an extra public holiday in the UK because of Prince William getting married, and it meant that everybody was booking holidays and it was really expensive to go to Europe. And I really wanted to do something with this extra bank holiday, so I went on Skyscanner, and it was almost as cheap, not as cheap, but almost as cheap, to fly to India. So I went to India, and I had a phenomenal time.

Jason: Wow.

Laura: I would say that is one of those things. Being open-minded to the possibilities is always going to stand you in good stead, I think.

Jason: There you go. I think that excites us too. That’s a great story to illustrate that point. As much as you think you know where you’re going to end up, you never know where you’ll end up in 2027. So thank you so much for taking the time to come on and share and give us the highlights and get some new destinations on people’s radars, and all the things you brought to the episode today. Really appreciate it.

Laura: Thanks so much. Thanks, Jason. And good luck with the kids’ party.

Jason: Thank you.

Jason: There you have it. Thank you once again to Laura Lindsay for stopping by the show and breaking down that Skyscanner Travel Trends 2027 report. Hope you got a lot of value out of that one. I know I did. I’m going to leave you with a quote that I think wraps this one up nicely, because I am a sucker for that Everywhere search, that open-ended, “Hey, I wonder where I’ll go. Let me just keep it open and see what’s out there and see where I end up.” And I thought this one would wrap it up nicely in that spirit, from Albert Einstein. Who else? He’s always a man of many quotes. He said, “Logic will get you from A to B. Imagination will take you everywhere.” So have some fun with your travel planning in the coming year. Hope this one helps you do that. And thanks for listening. I’ll see you next time, my friend. Peace and love to you and yours. Cheers.