2020 has been a notoriously bad year for travel. Flights are canceled, hospitality services shut down, not to mention the ethical considerations involved in hopping from country to country in the middle of a pandemic.
We will all have to settle for daydreaming about our next vacation, which hopefully will be possible next year. But when 2021 rolls around, the travel industry may look a little different. Tourism is subject to changing whims and fashions every year, and based on recent trends we can predict with some confidence how travelers will be spending their summers.
Here are five of the top travel trends you can expect to see in 2021!
Ancestry Travel
People have been able to conduct home DNA tests to find out about their ancestors for a while, but ancestry travel is now just taking off. People are increasingly going in search of their roots, traveling to the homelands and stomping-grounds of their family’s previous generations. It’s a fantastic way to combine travel with self-discovery, and many companies are now catering to this very niche form of tourism. For example, Airbnb has recently partnered with DNA lab 23andMe to encourage people to explore their heritage.
Wellness Travel
People are no longer content to spend their vaca time lying on a beach, soaking up the sun, and consuming large quantities of food and drink. What many tourists increasingly want from a vacation is to return home feeling healthier, happier, and ultimately transformed. Whether through fitness, nutrition, or meditation, wellness travel helps you to better yourself. It can take many different forms from mental health retreats and digital detox breaks, to fitness boot camps and “rewilding” vacations in which you immerse yourself in nature. There has also been a massive increase in plant medicine and ayahuasca retreats, in which drinking a psychoactive medicinal brew is intended to promote deep healing within the body. Why settle for an all-inclusive beach resort when you could instead opt for the #1 rated Ayahuasca retreat in Peru?
Vegan Travel
Veganism is one of the fastest-growing food trends in the world. More and more people are removing animal products from their diet, and this is beginning to follow through to their vacations as well. Many are opting to stay in vegan hotels, which not only serve a wholly plant-based menu but don’t contain any wool, silk, or feather products. There are currently only a select number of vegan hotels, but it’s only a matter of time before we see numbers grow.
Climate-Neutral Travel
With Greta Thunberg taking travelers to account for unnecessary flying, people are starting to be more eco-friendly with their travel decisions. We will see more travelers turning to trains or other forms of transport, and even taking steps to offset their holiday’s carbon footprint by booking eco-hotels and environmentally friendly travel providers.
Space Tourism
It may be a long time until this one is accessible to the general public, but with Virgin Galactic nearing completion, we are closer than ever before. Other companies are fast competing to be the first space tourism provider, and 2021 could well be the first year we see (ultra-rich) tourists heading into the stratosphere.
•What are your travel plans for 2021?
Thank you for reading!