It's the most wonderful time of the year: outlook season! Yes, I am excited to officially launch Skift Research's 2025 Travel Outlook! Picture this classic Christmas scene. A busy travel executive, curled up in front of the fireplace, their suitcase in one hand, our brand new 100-page outlook deck in the other. They sip their hot cocoa and plan for the year ahead.
Kidding aside, I am particularly proud of the hard work the team put into this year's outlook. I know you will find many insights that can be helpful to your 2025 planning. Inside you will discover consumer trends, regional travel performance, and revenue growth estimates for online travel, hotels, airlines, cruise, and short-term rentals.
If 2023 was the year of revenge travel, and 2024 of normalization, what will 2025 bring? Likely a slow and steady baseline of growth amid divergence, challenges, and change. Our research points to high single-digit revenue growth for the travel industry in 2025. In a world of muted global growth, that still makes travel a "GDP-plus," high-growth industry.
New to the outlook this year is a five-country survey on upcoming travel trends. We asked travelers in the U.S., UK, Germany, India, and China what is on their mind, and penciled into their budgets, for the travel year to come. This proprietary dataset makes clear that the shift to spending on experiences over things remains strong. Travel is the discretionary purchase that people are most excited to splurge on. It outranks dining, electronics, jewelry, and more.
In a more competitive travel landscape, online travel is back in the driver's seat as the fastest-growing major sector. Cruise isn't doing too shabby either. Hotels and airlines continue to stabilize, while short-term rentals adapt to a post-pandemic era. In addition to revenue estimates, we also highlight key trends and insights that will drive the performance of most* of these travel sectors in 2025 and beyond.
With that, it's a wrap on 2024. We've got a lot of great reports in store for you in 2025. Please do check out our upcoming Skift Research report calendar. I would love your feedback on what you think of this next year's roadmap.
2025 is shaping up to be one of the most exciting years in the history of travel. We look forward to having you alongside Skift Research for the ride.
Best,
Seth Borko
Head of Skift Research
P.S. Are you going somewhere fun for the holidays? I am looking forward to scuba diving in the Cayman Islands! Drop me a note to let me know your travel plans – sb@skift.com.
* Sorry, we don't have a full cruise section but let me know if that would be important to you.
