Customer travel trends

6 minute read • Last updated: 20 March 2025

Customer interests and motivations are constantly changing and developing. Understanding these changes through trendspotting allows you to meet and exceed expectations both now and in the future.

Our 2025 trends focus on the interest in passion travel and wellness. Find out how you can adapt your business to align with these trends and feature them in your marketing, so customers can see what you offer and if it aligns with their expectations.

Passion travel

Creating memorable experiences for every customer

We’ve known for a while now that customers are looking for authentic meaningful experiences – moments they can enjoy and look back on fondly.

You might see hundreds of customers each week, but try to focus on a single customer and see your business through their eyes:

How would it feel to be about to enjoy your business for the first time?
How would it feel when arriving?
What would someone see and do while they are there?
How would they feel when it’s over and time to leave?

Use this exercise to think about general ways you can make your experience more memorable.

Celebreaktions

For those looking to celebrate a milestone or special occasion, they will want to take lots of photographs of their group to remember the occasion.

Is there a good spot for photo opportunities? What would the customer capture in the background? If they share that image, is there something that would help other people know your business name, and be able to look you up?
Could you offer them exclusive access for a larger group or a private space for them to enjoy? Could you offer a discount for a larger group, an add-on experience for them, or offer an incentive for them to book in advance?

Creating tailored experiences

Many of the trends identified lend themselves to you creating a bespoke or tailored experience for customers.

Gig-tripping
Scotland is host to many incredible events and festivals, and lots of people turn these into a reason to take a longer trip.
Think about whether your business could connect with any events happening in your area:
- Do you have any connections to music, arts, sport or culture?
- Are you located near where the event is, or where people might be staying?
- Do you complement the event nicely – for example, a way to relax the day after a big gig or a place to eat before heading out?
You could offer a tailored or bespoke experience for one event – but consider if that experience is something you could offer for other events, as ideally you want to get longevity out of the idea and investment.
Set-jetting
Another popular theme for trips is set-jetting – customers who want to connect with a film, TV series or book.
Again, think about how your business could connect with that theme – you might not be a filming location, but do you have any broader connections? That could be the author having visited your town as a child or the town having a colourful history from the same period the book’s setting. This could give you an opportunity to tie this reference into your marketing – but remember to keep most of the focus on the authentic experience you have to offer.
For both events and set-jetting, you may be able to partner with other local businesses to form a trail promoting a key general theme for your area such as arts and culture or food and drink. This could be marketed with a map for people to follow themselves, or you could decide to set it up as a tour with transport between the venues and viewing spots for key general locations in-between.
Hobbidays
The hobbidays trend sees people want to practice self-care and enjoy the experiences they love. You could partner with someone who can come into your business to deliver an additional or new experience – use your available space to host a “meet the maker” event or hands-on activity which aligns with the event or media.

Marketing

Think about how these trends can inspire your marketing.

Talk openly about the trends
Ask people:
- Are you celebrating an important milestone?
- Do you have tickets for this nearby event?
- Are you a big fan of this film / TV series / book?
Say why your business connects to this
- We offer this experience for large groups.
- We're a great place for this experience before / after the event.
- We're based in this town which has connections to this film / TV series / book.
Tie it back to your digital strategy
Say who you are, what you offer, and what your unique selling point is. Why are you a memorable experience and how will someone feel having spent time at your business?
Timing is everything
Think about when people might be celebrating big events, stay up to date on key dates for events (ticket sales, day of event), and key moments for media (book release, film release, anniversaries).
Feature partner businesses
If you’re collaborating with another business, remember to consider how you can feature each other in the marketing across your website, social media channels and more.
Promote other things to do
As seen in the Instant Inspo trend, even if you’re not directly collaborating with another business, consider highlighting your wider area on your marketing channels. Promote the lesser-known things to do and help make the customer’s whole trip memorable and authentic.

Wellness

Customers have shown a keen interest in the wellness trend for many years. While it has developed into new areas, it shows no signs of fading.

Snoorie

For accommodation providers, there’s a big opportunity to tie into the focus on improving sleep.

Think about the physical experience you offer and how you can enhance this with:

Opportunities to easily control and set the temperature, sounds and lights within each bedroom.
High quality mattresses, smart beds and pillow menus.
Complimentary products such as aromatherapy oils, specialist teas and eye masks.
Twin rooms for couples who want more space, and earlier check ins / late check outs for international travellers.

Marketing snoorie

Once you have this in place, make sure to update all your marketing channels and listings to reflect what you now offer. You could also offer some general sleep advice and tips on your website, in post-booking emails and in the rooms on arrival.

For other businesses, you can look at including a nod in your marketing on how your business supports a good night’s sleep. You might be an outdoor activity giving people the opportunity to soak up the fresh Scottish air, or you might be offering the chance for customers to learn something new, take time away from their normal routine, expand their creativity or just be more mindful?

Biohacking wellness tech

Physical wellness experiences are still very popular, so consider if you could offer (or partner with another business) wild swimming, ice baths, forest bathing or spa trips.

Outdoor therapy

Think about moving some of your existing activities outdoors – is there another space where customers can enjoy arts and crafts, yoga, exercise and food and drink on a lovely day?

Even if you don’t align directly with a wellness activity, you could still promote other nearby businesses through your marketing and encourage people to visit both of you during their trip.

How visitors plan and book

Walk through the customer journey from inspiration to planning and booking, looking at the information sources and booking channels that are used.

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Customer travel trends

Passion travel

Creating memorable experiences for every customer

Celebreaktions

Creating tailored experiences

Gig-tripping

Set-jetting

Hobbidays

Marketing

Talk openly about the trends

Say why your business connects to this

Tie it back to your digital strategy

Timing is everything

Feature partner businesses

Promote other things to do