Emerging Travel Trends for 2025

In this exciting episode of the Travel Buddy podcast by Switchfly, we explore emerging travel trends for 2025 with special guests Ashley Martinez and Rachel Satow. They discuss how artificial intelligence and technology are reshaping travel planning and personalization. From innovative travel tech like neighborhood insights to the rise of domestic travel and conscious tourism, this episode offers valuable insights for travelers looking to stay ahead of the curve. Whether you're a seasoned globe-trotter or planning your next adventure, gain practical tips on leveraging AI and new technologies for a more immersive travel experience.

Key Highlights
• Exploration of how AI is transforming travel planning for personalized trip experiences.
• Insight into the growing trend of domestic travel alongside international journeys.
• Discussion on conscious travel, emphasizing eco-friendly and immersive experiences.
• Overview of unique travel experiences, including literature travel and astro tourism.
• Tips on utilizing AI and VR tools to discover lesser-known locations and experiences.

Quotes
• "AI is no longer just a tool; it's become a fundamental aspect of travel planning." – Rachel Satow
• "There's been a real rise in conscious travel, impacting both eco-friendly choices and the immersive experience travelers seek." – Ashley Martinez

Creators and Guests

Host

Nowell Outlaw

Chief Executive Officer of Switchfly

What is Travel Buddy with Switchfly?

See more at Switchfly.com

Welcome to Travel Buddy,
presented by Switchfly.

In this podcast, we talk about all
things travel, rewards, and loyalty.

Let's get to it.

Brandon Giella: Hello and
welcome back to another episode

of The Travel Buddy podcast.

Today I have two special guests, so
I want them to introduce themselves,

but we're gonna be talking about
emerging travel trends for 2025,

and we may touch on a really fun.

Conde Nast, uh, article.

We'll see if we have some time
because it's got some fun little,

uh, travel trends in there.

Anyway, uh, so Ashley, Rachel, thank you
so much for joining me on this episode.

I'd love for you guys to, in, uh,
introduce yourselves because, uh,

Ashley, you have been on the show before.

Rachel, you have not.

So let's refresh everybody to, uh, make
sure that we know who we're talking to.

So, Ashley, I'll start with you.

Tell us a little bit about yourself and,
uh, and why you're on the show today.

Ashley Martinez: Thanks Brandon.

I am so happy to be back on travel, buddy.

I have a background in travel
technology and I'm actually a travel

advisor on the side, so I'm very
active in the travel planning.

Um, travel Trends community,
so I'm excited to dive in

that, uh, into that today.

Brandon Giella: Awesome.

Thanks so much, Rachel.

How about you?

Please introduce yourself.

Rachel Satow: Hi.

Thank you for having me.

I'm super excited for this very
first, uh, travel buddy episode.

Um.

I'm the senior marketing
strategist at Switch Fly.

I joined the team about six months
ago and I have a little bit of

a history working in the travel
industry and working with clients in

the travel industry in particular.

Um, so I'm very excited to
chat through 2025 trends.

Brandon Giella: Very cool.

Very cool.

So glad you both are on the show today.

So the very first, uh, segment of the show
is on travel tech and personalization.

So of course everybody
is talking about ai.

Everyone is talking about how
tech can either, you know,

mass produce something or.

Be hyper targeted, personal just for
you because of a lot of these new

technologies that are coming out,
travel is not immune to that trend.

So, uh, one way to picture this.

Is that there are many ways, uh, to, you
know, Google where you want to go in your

destination or you see some Instagram
feed of someplace that looks marvelous

and you see these beautiful photos and
sometimes those photos don't exactly

match to reality and you don't really get
a sense of what else the city might be.

Look like because you're really
just getting like a highlight reel.

But there are some new technologies that
are coming out and new ways of kind of

researching a, a trip and where you want
to go, where you can preview locations,

you can do some deep dives on hotels or
see where there's situated, uh, within

different, um, districts or neighborhoods.

And then there's things like neighborhood
insights that can give you a better

feel for the overall picture.

So I'm wondering if, if you two, I
don't know who to start with, maybe

Rachel, uh, Rachel, if you could talk
to me a little bit about that, um,

that kind of sensation of you're, you
know, doing some research on, um, a

trip and you can use some of these new
technologies to figure out, get a better

picture of where you're trying to go.

So talk to me a little bit about
that and um, and give us a sense

of how people are using these
tools in their, their research.

Rachel Satow: Sure.

So I think it changes based on who
we're actually talking about here.

So from the technology side, it's going
to look very different how AI comes into

play than from a traveler's perspective.

Um.

I mean, it's, no, it's no
surprise that AI is here to stay.

I think that that one's pretty obvious,
but, um, from a traveler's perspective,

we're seeing everything from.

Using it to plan your trip, using
it to ask questions about where

certain things would be within, you
know, the proximity of their hotel.

Really kind of seeing that shift from
just utilizing Google and that resource

and now it's utilizing ChatGPT et
cetera, um, to kind of fill in the

gaps and, and have a more expedited
experience in their travel planning.

Um.

And without knowing those
travel, those travelers are

interacting oftentimes with ai.

So when we think about it from a
tech perspective, um, our software

in particular at Switchfly you know,
we released Neighborhood Insights

last year, late last year, which
is using Gen AI Um, to, to showcase

neighborhoods, recommended neighborhoods,
recommend recommended hotels in the

area where they may be searching.

Um, just trying to expedite how people are
really able to plan their trip overall,

um, and have the best experience possible.

So it's no shock that we're seeing
jet AI come in the shape of.

Enhancing features that already exist,
but also in the shape of generating brand

new features that didn't exist before.

Brandon Giella: That's great.

So Ashley, you are, uh, helping
people actually book these.

These kind of trips.

As a travel advisor, can you talk
to me a little bit about what you're

seeing using these tools or how you're
doing research maybe for clients or as

you're booking, like how is that going?

Ashley Martinez: Yeah, absolutely.

AI is great as chat.

GBT especially, I used to leverage to.

Really bridge the gap on logistics.

So as you mentioned earlier,
there definitely is a difference

between Instagram and reality.

One, um, that comes to mind
is the beautiful towns of

Chica Terra outside Florence.

On Instagram, you might see all these
beautiful pictures, but from a logistics

standpoint, there are actually these towns
that are built on the side of a mountain.

So how do you actually get there?

Right?

So bridging the gap with logistics and
how do I actually get to these places?

Um, chat, GBT in particular
has been a great resource.

On that front, I think, not only
for current travels, but where I've

really seen the opportunity for travel
technology and especially leveraging,

um, machine learning, um, models
and AI is for future travel trips.

So, hey, my clients, they
really had a great experience.

That's, you know, maybe a family of four.

They love this hotel
that was on the beach.

How can I create a similar
experience or a similar positive

experience moving forward?

So at Switch Fly, we are doing this based
on, um, anonym, uh, anonymized models.

We're using travel trends and booking data
to leverage, Hey, a lot of people are, um,

searching for this destination and giving
those personalized recommendations to, to,

um, enhance future travel trips as well.

Brandon Giella: Okay, great.

So what I'm hearing from from
both of you is that there are

these tools that are able.

To personalize your experience but
also work out the kinks of actually

traveling to these destinations.

I think Chitter is a
great example of that.

I haven't been, my wife studied
abroad in Florence and she's

always wanted me to go see that
place 'cause she loved it so much.

But then I think about having a toddler
and scaling up these mountains in between

these little towns and it takes, you
know, hours to get around all of them.

And it sounds miserable, but I
wanna figure out how to do it.

So thank you that, I think that's
such a great example of using

these, these tools to do that.

Um, but yeah, so, so then it's like you,
you see, you can kind of maybe narrow

down the field of where you'd like to
travel and get a more realistic picture.

Um, but then you get these recommendations
maybe based on those selections or

based on those criteria that travelers
might have, whether they're going

to a particular city or how they're
getting there, or things like that.

Um, and that leads to, uh, part two
of our conversation talking about.

Different trends that Travelers have, uh,
based on these kind of recommendations

or based on these criteria, based on, uh,
how the gen gen ai, uh, tools are like

helping them just navigate and, and make
decisions about this, this sort of thing.

So one of the trends that you
guys mentioned before we started

recording is that domestic travel.

Is growing.

Uh, is that, is that what I understood?

So it's a, it's a growing trend and
people are booking more local domestic

trips rather than international.

So talk to me a little bit about that.

What is going on with this trend?

What are you seeing?

Why is that the case?

And then we can dive in.

Rachel Satow: I am happy to take this one.

Um, I wouldn't necessarily
say that it's growing and

replacing international travel.

I think individuals are, we're
seeing a trend in domestic

travel for a slew of reasons, but
particularly it's, it's growing in

tandem with international travel.

And when we think about the reasons on
why that's really happening is, you know.

COVID-19, I think actually spurred
a lot of curiosity regarding the,

the, the areas in our backyard.

Um.

I know for me in particular, there
was a lot of the United States that

I had never traveled to before.

And without that capability of being
able to really travel internationally

during the pandemic, it spurred my
curiosity of like, where can I go?

That's, you know, not too far, but
far enough that I get removed from my

day to day and what can I see that's,
that's right outside my front door.

Um, so we're seeing that
momentum from Covid to 19 and

the pandemic, um, really keep.

Up domestic travel, but there's
also a lot of trends in regards to

bringing your furry friend along.

And many, many millennials in particular
are making decisions of where they

are going based on if they can bring
their pets and international travel.

Obviously that's a lot harder
to bring your pet along.

Um, so they're.

They're leaning into domestic
travel because of that.

The other side of it is
obviously sustainability.

You know, taking these grandiose,
international long-term, uh, trips can,

you know, have a, not, I don't wanna say
a negative non connotation, but it can

have an assumed higher carbon footprint.

Than if I were to just drive to the next
state and see something that is, you know,

nearby that stands out a little bit more.

So sustainability and some of
that responsive travel is coming

into, um, into play here as well.

Um, just simply because, you know, things
that exist within our own countries

often, you know, we don't explore them
as much, but it seems that people are,

are definitely taking an interest there.

Brandon Giella: Interesting.

I, I wonder too if there's
some demographics involved.

And as you were talking, I was thinking
about a group of friends, uh, that

we all love to travel together.

Every year we try to plan a trip.

There's six of us.

Well, in the last two years we've had
three children between the six of us

and two of the couples are pregnant.

And this year, you know, having more
kids, so there's gonna be five kids total.

And we were just talking this weekend
at a gender reveal party for one of

them, and we were thinking, where
do we want to go in the future?

And we're like, can you imagine lugging
five kids to like France or Italy or you

know, somewhere in western Europe, which
is typically where we like to travel.

Uh, and that sounds.

Difficult to say the least.

So we're thinking like, okay, maybe
we can like drive to Colorado,

which I've never been to Colorado.

Maybe I should check that out.

Um, but yeah, I'm wondering if
that's like, like pets and like

maybe the sustainability mixed
in, there's some demographics that

might be involved in kind of pushing
some trends in that direction.

Rachel Satow: Absolutely.

Brandon Giella: Ashley, what about you?

What, what kind of trends
are, are you seeing?

Do you, do you see the kind of thing
that Rachel's talking about with this

more domestic travel and maybe some
reasons behind that or, uh, some of the

sustainability comments, things like that.

Like when, when you're talking with
your clients and working through

things, do you hear that that kind
of, uh, emphasis on domestic travel?

Ashley Martinez: I really think
it's all in the same vein of the

rise of the conscious traveler.

So whether that's being conscious of my
e, my global carbon footprint, whether

that's conscious of who I'm traveling
with, maybe I'm traveling with elderly or

like as you mentioned, Brandon, with kids.

But I really think there.

Travelers are putting an emphasis on
one, having immersive experiences.

At the end of the day, you're traveling
to experience a new, a new place.

And so when you are truly immersing
yourself, you also have to put

yourself, um, when you, when you immerse
also, how am I consciously impacting

the place that I'm in vi visiting?

Am I, am, I'm, if I'm visiting
a remote destination, a.

In the Philippines, for example, there's
a really popular destination in the

Philippines to go visit a, she's an
amazing a hundred year old tattoo artist.

There's been a really rise of travel or
tourism to that destination, but then

that's led to over tour, over tourism.

To that destination.

So what are all the things, all the
trash that I'm bringing, all of the

tourism to that place, how am I impacting
the destination that I'm going to?

So I think there's been a
real rise in conscious travel.

This has translated to the rise
of eco-friendly resorts, green

practices within hotels and
accommodations, also transportation,

taking public transportation.

You know, how can I, um, reduce
my carbon footprint in the

places that I'm traveling to.

Brandon Giella: I like
that phrase conscious.

Conscious tourism, conscious travel.

I think that's, I think that's true.

I hear that a lot of, uh, like
I'm just thinking of, of Hawaii.

I had some friends that went to Hawaii
and they were talking about the.

You know, the disparity, if you wanna
call it that between locals and then

tourists and how it kind of just
sets up this kind of social tension,

cultural tension, if I can call it that.

But also, um, your point about
experiences I think is, is really useful.

And that makes me think
of this Conde Nat article.

I know we are, we're hoping to
circle back in that direction.

But I, but I, what I like about
this article is it talks about

some of those trends that you were
talking about, like experiences like

visiting in the Philippines, a a
hundred year old, um, tattoo artist.

I.

The, there's some other ones and I
just wanna, I just wanna list them

off just so listeners like, can get
a sense of how, especially if I could

say younger travelers are thinking
about the way that they wanna spend

their vacations and things like that.

So this is just the top few that is, uh,
literature travel to avoid brain rott.

So the headline is, travel Gets Lit.

So people are carrying around books
or they're, they're going to places in

books that they've, they've read before.

There's Astrocartography.

So if you've ever wondered about how
your horoscope plays into your life and

the different ways that you can, uh,
you know how the planets were aligned

on your particular birth date, a birth
hour, and you can go visit that place.

There's, uh, long honeymoons becoming
a thing, which I think is interesting

because you can now work where if you
wanted to go travel remotely, there's her

story lessons through women's museums.

There's, uh, supper clubs that
you can go visit in Tokyo.

Um, there's just all
these different trends.

There's, I think, 21 trends
mentioned in this article.

But I bring it up to give some,
some kind of concreteness to

some of these experiential
travel that you're talking about.

So I'm curious from, from both of you, uh,
what do y'all think about some of those?

Do you have some in mind that you've heard
of from friends or trends on Instagram

or just like different things that you've
seen where that's actually a really

great idea or that's really interesting
that people are using travel to do that.

Ashley Martinez: From my side,
I would definitely recommend if

you are interested in having a
literary journey going to Porto.

In Portugal, they have one of the
most beautiful libraries in the

world, and it's a very literary city.

So that one resonated with me
personally, but I also think.

Yeah, no, I, um, Porto and then there's
an incredible library in Prague as

well, so that, that's a definitely,
um, would, would fit the bill.

But I think in terms of travel trends,
one of the other ones that resonated

me with was this idea of a supper club.

I at heart am a foodie, and so I think
that goes hand in hand with traveling and

cultural immersion is really the food.

Of a destination.

And so I've seen definitely a
rise in food oriented travel trips

or planning around a cuisine.

I think the bringing it full circle
for me, ChatGPT and other AI resources

have been a great way to find those
local recommendations of restaurants

and where can I get really unique local?

Food.

Not necessarily, well, let's call 'em,
um, this might have tourist traps per se,

but where can I, where do the locals eat?

And so I think that's, so I
important and that's definitely

some of the trends that I'm seeing,

Rachel Satow: You know, you bring
up an interesting, you know, uh,

thought about the tourist traps.

One of the trends

Ashley Martinez: that we

Rachel Satow: that we see is people
are trying to go off the beaten path.

They, they're traveling to places.

And when we think about domestic travel,
this kind of leads into that too.

We're, we're seeing a rise in
people going places where it

isn't a tourist trap necessarily.

It's not the most popular
city and the most popular

country that they're going to.

They're opting for more
unique experiences.

And to tie it back to, to the trends
you were mentioning, um, you know,

when we think about astro tourism, um,
and astrological tourism, you know.

We see a lot of different travelers making
decisions based on the unique experiences

that they can, they can have in certain
places and only in those certain places.

So if you think about, you know, when the
solar eclipse happened, there was this a,

a massive, massive surge in travel into
places people don't really normally go to.

And it's all because.

These are once in a lifetime experiences,
and I think when we think about the,

the, you know, experiential travel that
is going to continue to grow when people

travel, they are going to be searching
for the once in a lifetime opportunities

and they're not going to necessarily.

Want to, to go to the most common spots.

They want to say, look at this amazing
trip that was so unique to me and look at

how these, the hotel personalized the, the
room when we got there for our specific

anniversary or our birthday, et cetera.

They're looking for these very
unique experiences for sure.

Brandon Giella: Yeah, I can
definitely resonate with that because.

I think there's so many places
that you could go, but I think

I'm a millennial, so I'm 34.

And I feel this like burden to, to want
to, to do things with my limited time

on earth that like is so unique and
interesting because yes, I could go to

Paris and I could go on the Sean where
everybody else goes and I could get.

Dinner there, and I did one
time and it was not very good.

So I want to, I want to go to these
like less known spots that are not

the tourist traps kind of on the
off the beaten path a little bit.

Um, because you do find these like really
rich, interesting, unique experiences, but

to, to our point at the top of the hour or
the top of the show was these tools that

are available to us now, we can actually
find these things a lot more quickly.

Yeah.

And so I'm curious if, if you guys have
used these, these tools, um, some that

are off the beaten path that you've seen
or things that you've done, like maybe

in your research or maybe thinking about
different things that, like you thought

of this really unique, uh, kind of spot
in, in travel that you wouldn't have

found if it weren't for an AI tool or,
or some other kind of like new tech tool.

So great example, Ashley, what you said
about Porto having this great library.

I would love to, to know if
there's like this thing that you

wouldn't have found otherwise.

Uh, if it weren't for a, a tool like
that, you know, it's a great library

or a great museum or, um, I don't know,
a restaurant or something like that.

Ashley, have you, have you seen anything
like that that's come up in your research?

I.

Ashley Martinez: Absolutely.

I think the best prompts, or I
guess advice if I could give to

Travelers trying to leverage these
tools is use previous experiences

or as much context as possible.

So when I am looking
for a restaurant that.

Serves this local cuisine.

Um, I've been to this place, but
I'm, you know, and I really liked it.

Can you gimme a recommendation on another?

That's where I found it to be
as super useful using those, uh.

Giving as much context as
possible and giving prompts.

I think definitely for my clients, I, you
know, when you think about, you gave an

example of traveling to Paris to thee.

If anyone's going to France,
probably they're gonna recommend

to go to the Eiffel Tower.

I would for my clients and, and
I would leveraging AI tools.

Say I'm, I have clients,
they're a family of four.

How can they see the Eiffel Tower
in a very family friendly way?

So it's not just seeing the Eiffel
Tower, but maybe it's they're

bringing a picnic and they're going
to sit outside the Eiffel Tower.

Or if it's someone who's more adventurous,
maybe they wanna climb the Eiffel Tower.

So I think giving a prompt that
says, I am, you know, an adventurous

type of traveler, how can I see
this in the best way possible?

That's, you know, personal to me.

Brandon Giella: It's real easy.

You take your family to the bottom of
the Eiffel Tower, you pay $3 million,

and you wait in line for like four hours.

You take an elevator and you go up,

Ashley Martinez: Right,

Brandon Giella: which you
can't do with a toddler.

It's a little bit harder.

Um, Rachel, how about you?

Have you, what, uh, kind of interesting,
you know, local experiences or different

things have you seen in, in your research?

Rachel Satow: So I'm, I'm more
of an adventure traveler myself.

Um, and a lot of the planning that I
personally do revolves around where can

I find the me best mountain biking trail.

Um, so a lot of time, uh, my
personal experience with using

ai, there was a trip that we were
doing, um, we do an annual trip.

For a week in August to celebrate
my significant other's birthday.

And we do essentially car
camping the entire time.

And what we were able to do, we had
some, some chosen spots that we had

done before, but we wanted to kind
of jazz it up a little bit and say,

Hey, is there a camping spot that
we hadn't necessarily done before?

And so we utilized AI to
provide us with a general, um,

a general loop essentially of.

Out and back, where can we go all
the way through the southeast?

Um, and said, Hey, where we,
where could we find camping that

allows for us to either car camp
or for us to camp with a tent?

And then how close in proximity is it
to specific mountain biking trails?

Of course.

Um, and it came up with quite a
few, but one of my favorite options

was it actually gave us a su uh,
a suggestion on the way back home.

Um.

A couple of miles off of our normal,
our normal route, um, to see the

Grand Canyon of Georgia, um, which
is Providence Canyon State Park.

And it's really cool where, um, there
had been some agricultural practices

that caused these canyons to, to.

Just in the middle of Georgia.

Um, and it looks like the
Grand Canyon when you're there.

So we wouldn't have found out about
it if it weren't for, for ai kind of

recommending that, hey, take a, take
a couple miles the other way and, and

you can see this really unique thing.

Brandon Giella: Interesting.

I'm from Georgia and I've
never even heard of this.

Rachel Satow: Well, there you go.

Brandon Giella: I'm not a good Georgian.

Interesting.

Okay.

Cool.

Yeah, I love that.

Those are great.

Those are great.

Uh, okay.

Any closing thoughts or, or any kind
of, uh, other ideas that have surfaced

during this conversation or in your
research to, to prep for our talk?

Like anything that's come to mind that
you, you think listeners should know

about thinking about 2025 travel trends?

Ashley Martinez: I think it
just being conscious and.

If there's an opportunity to leverage
these travel technologies and AI tools,

not just beforehand when you're planning
your trip, but also while you're traveling

to create more personal experiences.

Say, Hey, I have an extra,
you know, couple hours.

What can I do with my time to make sure,
make sure, or ensure that you're having

the most immersive experience as possible.

Brandon Giella: Cool.

I love that.

Rachel Satow: Um, one thing we
didn't really talk about, and

this goes hand in hand with, with
Ashley's comment regarding, you know.

When you're planning your trip
utilizing this tech, but also

while you're there, you can utilize
this tech, um, is the use of vr.

We didn't really discuss that, but I
think as you're planning, definitely

be open to different ways of absorbing
the way and experience would actually

feel like in real life, whether that
be your hotel room or, um, you know.

What the lines might look like at
certain areas, like be open to the

different types of mediums and, and you
know, we're seeing that, that surge of

VR options and, and being able to, to
view certain spaces, um, surge as well.

So definitely be open to how you're
ingesting your media in order to be

able to, to, to plan for your trip.

Brandon Giella: I love that I, you know,
for many years VR got really popular for a

little while and then it was sort of like,
man, I don't know if these little headsets

are that useful or worth it, you know?

'cause some, sometimes they
can be pretty expensive.

Um, but I think these AI tools
combined with VR are actually

getting really, really interesting.

Rachel Satow: Absolutely.

Brandon Giella: a, a, a a Stanford
Hackathon last week, I think, I think it

was last week, where uh, some folks were
making, uh, VR headsets that incorporated

a lot of, um, the generative ai, like
Chachi pt and deep research tools and

things like that to teach people how
to like, uh, fix a car on the fly.

Like you just put on the glasses
and see it can like, understand

and interpret what it was.

Viewing and then tell you how to fix
it or understand it or diagram it.

This is what our friend was
telling me this past weekend.

It sounds amazing.

So yes, similar kind of, um, similar kind
of thing was your travel, you know, like

put on goggles or maybe a lot of phones
are coming out with like AR tools as well.

So, um, checking things out that
way, I think that's a great idea.

Thank you.

Ashley Martinez: One of the ways I've
leveraged AR in my actual travels is

I had my grandmother and we were in
Portugal and I googled map something and

it said it was only a half a mile away.

But actually, leveraging an AR tool
told me that it was up a hill, there

was multiple steps, and I actually
rerouted because that wouldn't be

sustainable or accessible for my
grandmother to, um, to go that route.

So I think there's a lot of different ways
you can leverage AR or virtual reality

tools to really see where you're going and
bridge that gap with logistics as well.

Brandon Giella: So cool.

Well, thank you both for
joining me on this episode.

This was so fun to like, just kind
of dream, you know, what, where we

could travel, how we can figure out
how to get there and how to plan it.

Uh, I think it's really, really awesome.

And Rachel, I have to congratulate
you that you didn't sneeze.

Rachel Satow: Oh, thank

Brandon Giella: uh, you were afraid
you were gonna sneeze and what

you were gonna do, which is great.

Okay.

Well thank you both so much.

Um, I'd love to have you back
on the show, uh, very soon.

But appreciate your wisdom and uh,
yeah, we'll see you next time hopefully.

Rachel Satow: Thank you so much, Brandon.

We'll talk soon.

Brandon Giella: Thanks y'all.

Bye.

Rachel Satow: Bye.