6 Key Travel Trends in 2026
Published November 30th, 2025
Photos by Claudia Laroye unless otherwise noted and unsurprisingly, the kayak picture was provided by Jay.
The great ghost of Travel Future Trends is back! And I’ve got my Modern Traveller crystal ball to forecast the coming travel tendencies you need to know for 2026. If you read my 2025 key travel trends piece, you’ll know that I was bang on in highlighting travel trends like coolcations and the strength of the solo 50+ women travel market.
Riding those successful coattails, I’m delighted to present my predictions for six key travel trends in 2026.
Fan(tastic) Voyage
The slopes of Cortina D'Ampezzo play host to a variety of Winter Olympic events this year in 2026. Photo credit Franz Perini.
Sports fans are giddy about this year’s hat trick of the FIFA World Cup in North America (including Toronto and Vancouver in Canada), the 2026 Winter Olympics and Winter Paralympics in Milan Cortina and 2026 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, Scotland. Like music festival travel, sports travel can be event-specific and pegged to attending matches and tournaments in particular destinations. But its growth is also attributed to interest in attending local events where people are travelling. According to Expedia, 57% of travellers say they’re likely to attend a local sporting event while travelling (rising to 68% among Gen Z and Millennials). Whether it’s watching sumo wrestling in Tokyo, Japan, or learning how to yell ‘hurry hard’ at a curling match in Saskatoon, Canada, travellers are packing their sports passion and taking it on road.
Get your glow on
The pursuit of beauty and wellness on our travels has grown exponentially.
Glow-cation? It me. Having just returned from Tokyo with a bag of Japanese beauty product swag, I’m part of the skincare glow-up blow-up that’s taking the world by storm. From K-beauty "glass skin" to the booming popularity in niacinamide (water-soluble B3), 2026 is all about finding your glow. Per Booking.com, a whopping 80% of global travellers are open to a "glowcation," saying they’d be interested in trying out at least one beauty or wellness treatment while away. How about a travel and wellness combo? Seventy-one percent of travelers said they’d be interested in body movement analysis and a personalized exercise routine to help combat specific health issues or to reduce the impact of jet lag. Honestly, just hit the onsen and walk your 25,000 steps around Kyoto and you’ll hit that target faster than you can say Shinkansen wa dochira desu ka? (Which way is the Shinkansen?)
Live the adventure
Kayaking in the Bay of Fundy, Nova Scotia. Photo credit, Jay Kana.
According to the Adventure Travel Trade Association and report partner EF Adventures’ latest Adventure Travel Market Sizing report, adventure travel has surged to over $1 trillion (USD) in value. Once a niche category, adventure travel is now a powerful driver of global tourism, setting the pace for sustainable, experience-driven growth and attracting a wider and more diverse audience than ever before. Whether it’s kayaking in Nova Scotia or breaking bread in the homes of local chefs in Chile’s Lakes District, adventurous and conscious travellers are reshaping destination choices through social and environmental awareness, keen to explore authentic cultural and natural experiences in travel styles that suit their interests and abilities.
Video vérité
Capturing video at an OTENTik at Camp Henry in Point Pelee National Park, Canada. Photo credit, Jay Kana.
News flash: Gen Z and Millennials aren't typing into search bars or reading Lonely Planet guides. They’re planning and prioritizing real-time experiences and local immersion with peer-to-peer recommendations setting their trip itinerary. According to Skyscanner’s report on the Future of Travel, the young and plugged-in set are taking to social search on TikTok, YouTube, Instagram and Reddit for authentic travel tips and recs to plan their Next Big Adventure. Gen Z in particular loves YouTube (54%), Instagram (59%) and TikTok (47%), as well as film and TV (29%) to look for travel inspiration. TikTok’s new “Nearby” feed operates as a hyper-local discovery tool that serves up curated recommendations for attractions, eateries, and events – meeting travellers when and where they’re at, in real time.
Managing success
Sustainably managing tourism in Bhutan, Land of the Thunder Dragon.
Expedia Group’s Unpack ’26 report has introduced a travel first this year in launching the Smart Travel Health Check. This framework is inspired by the World Travel & Tourism Council’s (WTTC) report on destination management checks to counter overtourism pressures in destinations around the world. As residents in popular hot spots like Barcelona and Venice push back against over-tourism and its impacts on daily life and affordability, Expedia highlights places and spaces taking leadership to ensure that tourism growth strengthens, rather than strains, the fabric of local communities, including Okinawa, Japan, Sardinia, Italy and Ucluelet, British Columbia, Canada. Another great example is Bhutan’s managed ‘high value, low volume’ tourism model, offering a different and for some, better, path forward.
Women still doing it for themselves
50+ and Fabulous! Me hiking up to Tiger's Nest in Bhutan.
The Invisible No More: Understanding the Women 50+ Traveller study by Intrepid Travel and JourneyWoman highlights the continued impact of how women aged 50+ are shaping the travel industry. The sector is projected to spend $746 billion annually on travel by 2035, becoming the second largest and fastest-growing travel demographic in North America. Solo travel remains strong, and women-only tours are booming - Intrepid’s all-female group tours bookings in 2025 were up 120% compared to last year. "It really speaks to a broader trend around 50+ women ‘Living their second best life,’” says Jenny Gray, Product Designer of Intrepid's Womens Expeditions. “This is translating to seeking out meaningful connections, getting out of their comfort zones, and often travelling to more far-flung destinations." Amen to that.