Virtuoso and Globetrender report: The top-7 luxury travel trends to watch in 2025

Virtuoso®, the leading global network specializing in luxury and experiential travel, has partnered with travel trend forecasting agency, Globetrender, to unveil the Luxury Travel Trend Watch: 2025. Working with global data from Virtuoso’s 2024 Brand & Travel Tracker Survey – a global survey of its high-net-worth/ultra-high-net-worth clientele, luxurytravelmagazine.com reports.

Globetrender and Virtuoso have identified seven trends shaping the luxury travel landscape for 2025, from Silver Bullet Wellness and Wander Women to F**k-it Lists.

Silver Bullet Wellness

Wellness tourism, projected to grow 16.6 percent annually and reach £1.6 trillion by 2027 (Global Wellness Institute), is seeing the rise of “Silver Bullet Wellness,” which provides personalized health habits and longevity plans. Luxury travelers are now seeking treatments for issues like insomnia, cognitive decline and disease prevention, moving beyond traditional pampering treatments to life-extension programs. Switzerland, Spain, Germany and Thailand are among the countries leading the charge, with high-net-worth travelers increasingly favoring retreats offering intensive, tailored mind-body transformations. With one in eight Virtuoso clients traveling for wellness, demand for specialized treatments is soaring. Adopters of Silver Bullet Wellness want to return home regenerated and rewired, whether that’s thanks to a “monk-level” meditation retreat at the Aleenta Retreat Chiang Mai in Thailand; genetic testing at Buchinger Wilhelmi in Germany; menopause therapy at the Amilla Maldives; or “quantum healing” at Kintsugi Space in Abu Dhabi.

F**k-It Lists

The term “bucket list” has long dominated the travel landscape, but now, the focus has shifted to spontaneous, short-term experiences, reflecting a “carpe diem” mindset. In 2025 and beyond, travelers are embracing “F**k-It Lists” – spontaneous, fun and liberating adventures that prioritise living in the moment. As the affluent continue to favor experiences over luxury goods, this trend is fueling splurges on more extravagant modes of travel like yacht charters, first-class flights and private jets. “F**k-It Lists”  also serve to push travelers out of their comfort zones, focusing on personal fulfillment rather than conventional tourist spots. Examples include tagging hammerhead sharks in Costa Rica, canyoneering in Utah’s Zion National Park,  hot air ballooning in Namibia, attending Burning Man or participating in a psychedelic ceremony. Companies like Pelorus organize supercar road trips, while Based on a True Story offers unique experiences with actors, costumes and scripts, such as surprise kidnappings or pirate treasure hunts. For extreme adventurers, Desert Island Survival teaches castaway skills on uninhabited islands in places like Tonga and Panama, where participants must survive without instructors after learning basic survival skills.

Mood Boarding

When planning a trip, most people think of the destinations and activities, often overlooking how they want to feel. Many seek relaxation but find themselves still thinking about work by the pool. In reality, an itinerary involving physical activities like hiking may better help disconnect from professional stress. As travel designers ask the right questions to tap into clients’ true motivations, they can address deeper emotional needs, giving rise to the “Mood Boarding” trend in pre-trip consultations.

Philosopher Alain de Botton notes that the challenge of travel is that “you take yourself with you,” stressing the importance of understanding the purpose behind trips. Virtuoso believes luxury travel advisors should help clients distinguish between “wants” and “needs,” curating experiences that offer emotional nourishment. For instance, a candlelit beach dinner may be less about the event itself and more about fostering connection or forgiveness between partners. Philippe Brown, founder of Brown + Hudson, a Virtuoso member agency, was an early pioneer of “Mood Boarding,” using psychometric questionnaires to assess travelers’ psychological preferences. In 2023, Black Tomato launched “See You in the Moment,” a series of experiences designed to create lasting psychological impact by promoting presence, such as a candlelit banquet inside a volcano in Iceland.

XZ Beta Travel

By 2025, seven generations will be traveling together for the first time in history, as “Beta Babies” are born to Gen Z parents (aged 16-30). This includes Generation Alpha (aged 1-15 in 2025), Millennials, Gen X, Boomers and the Matures. A key trend, “XZ Beta Travel,” will see young Gen Z parents traveling with their children and Gen X grandparents, who often finance the trips.

Gen Z, with 2 billion people and expected to represent 27 percent of the global workforce by 2025, is a growing and aspirational consumer group. McKinsey reports that 35 percent of the luxury travel market consists of “aspiring” travelers with net worths between $100,000 and $1 million, typically under 40 and increasingly from Asia. This demographic drives over a third of the $239 billion luxury travel market. The challenge is catering to this new group of young parents, who often find inspiration on TikTok (60 percent of users are Gen Z). While many Gen Zs are delaying or opting out of parenthood, even a small percentage having children will still amount to millions, and hotels are adapting. Shangri-La Hong Kong Island, for example, transformed an entire floor into a luxury haven for Beta Babies and Generation Alpha, complete with communal spaces and themed rooms like treehouses and submarines. In the Italian Dolomites, Sonnwies caters exclusively to families with its wellness offerings, including milk baths and chocolate massages for kids, an aquapark, playgrounds and zoo.

Wander Women

The rise of independent travel among women is set to grow in 2025 and beyond, with more women of all ages opting for solo, adventurous trips. Travel providers are responding by offering tailored experiences to cater to this trend, dubbed “Wander Women.” According to Virtuoso, 71 percent of its solo travelers are women, with 47 percent of them divorced, separated or widowed, highlighting a surge in post-partner or family-raising travel.

AmaWaterways removed single supplements for solo travelers on select European river cruises in 2024, while Swiss travel network A Small World launched the Solo Cruise Company, targeting women 55+. In small group travel, Intrepid Travel will debut its first women-only trips to Saudi Arabia in November 2024, in partnership with a local female-owned operator. Experiences include visiting Saudi women’s homes and female-only beaches. Meanwhile, startups like Mom’z offer “babymoons” in Spain for pregnant women, and the Amilla Maldives hosted a “mid-life wellbeing” retreat for perimenopausal and menopausal women in 2024. Luxury providers are finding niches in solo female travel, focusing on personal connections, unique experiences and women’s specific needs.

Memoirs in Motion

The trend of “Memoirs in Motion” involves luxury travelers hiring professional film crews to document their travels, turning holidays into cinematic experiences and personal legacies. Unlike the “Set-Jetting” trend, which focuses on visiting movie locations, this new trend lets clients star in their own documentaries, reflecting the growing demand for personalized storytelling and memory preservation.

With most people storing thousands of unused photos and videos on their phones, luxury companies like Cookson Adventures cater to the need for meaningful retrospectives. Inspired by David Attenborough-style documentaries, Cookson provides clients with cinematographers to create daily film edits, social media reels and full documentaries, starting at £13,000. According to Louis Waite, Cookson’s head of photography, capturing guests’ emotions is just as important as filming the action, with some clients even requesting on-the-go edits for social media. Other luxury travel companies like Quintessentially Travel, Pelorus, and Joro Experiences offer similar services, with project costs ranging from £25,000 to over £350,000. These companies transform travel into cinematic memories, providing a visually stunning record of extraordinary experiences.

Racketeering

The trend of “Racketeering,” coined by Globetrender, reflects the growing popularity of racket sports like tennis, pickleball and padel during vacations, spurred by the 2024 film “Challengers.” Companies like Pickleball in Paradise now organize racket sport-themed vacations. Resorts worldwide are capitalizing on this trend by adding state-of-the-art courts, clinics and tournaments. Notable destinations include Marbella Club, the birthplace of padel in Europe, and Necker Island, where Richard Branson hosts the exclusive Necker Cup tennis tournament. His Moskito Island estate also offers tennis facilities.

Luxury resorts like Hotel du Cap-Eden-Roc in France, in partnership with Lacoste, have embraced this trend with branded tennis courts and a limited-edition tennis apparel collection. Meanwhile, the Maldives’ Soneva Fushi and Soneva Jani resorts added padel courts, hosting pro players through the “Soneva Stars” program.  Other destinations like One&Only Aesthesis in Greece, Bürgenstock Resort in Switzerland, and Le Grand Bellevue in Switzerland have also embraced racket sports. Even cruise lines, such as Crystal Cruises, now offer onboard pickleball and padel courts on their ships.

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