The holidays that in-the-know travellers are booking for 2023
From off-grid breaks to electric transport and trips inspired by films, we predict this year’s holiday trends
In such unpredictable times, major new travel trends are emerging for the year ahead. 2023 looks set to be the year of a full return to travel, now that so many of our favourite destinations – Japan, India, Brazil, Australia among them – have finally reopened.
Cost is a factor driving many trends, in what is, according to Skyscanner, “the year of price-driven decisions”. Yet the good news is that, despite the cost of living crisis resulting in less disposable income for most families, there’s an overwhelming message that it won’t be travel we give up in 2023; if anything, we want to go further, bigger, bolder, and we’ll forgo other luxuries and shop around to make holiday budgets stretch as far as possible.
Sustainablity is also at the core of our travel habits in 2023, as we consider not just our carbon footstep, but how our holidays have an impact on the places and people we are visiting.
We have never been more aware that travel is a privilege, and that by choosing carefully where and how we travel, it can be life-changing – not just for us and our children, but for the communities who need tourism most, influencing the destinations we choose for our next big adventure.
Here are 10 predictions for where, why, and how we’ll be travelling in 2023.
All back to Asia
Asia’s most-wanted destination is Japan, straight in at number one since reopening in October. “Japan is top of the list in terms of demand for travel in 2023, and the Sakura [blossom] season in March and April is already busy,” reports Tropical Sky (tropicalsky.co.uk).
Meanwhile, India has reintroduced the eVisa for British nationals – good news for all those who love this many splendoured land but are put off by the bureaucracy of obtaining a paper visa. “Kingdom of Happiness” Bhutan reopened in September. Its restored Trans-Bhutan Trail – an ancient 250-mile pilgrimage over bridges, via fortresses and Buddhist sites in view of the Himalayas – has reopened after 60 years.
Take the trip: Trans Bhutan Trail (transbhutantrail.com) has created a series of authentic itineraries that support local communities, including a family walking tour, a trek designed for and led by women, and the mother of all walking holidays: the 35-night guided End-to-End Trek (transbhutantrail.com/holidays/full-trans-bhutan-trail-trek), costing £18,000 per person.
It's time to go electric
There you were, paddling about on your trendy inflatable SUP, blissfully unaware that a) every teenager on the beach is laughing at you, and b) the SUP is officially over. This is 2023, and trailblazers are riding a raft of all-electric watersports toys.
Mark Zuckerberg goes eFoiling (on an electric hydrofoil board controlled by a handheld remote); Elon Musk’s Tesla has brought out a limited-edition e-surfboard; Lewis Hamilton posted videos of himself e-surfing on a £20,000 Karl Lagerfeld board; and Taiga recently launched its Orca electric jet ski, which does away with the obnoxious noise and noxious fumes, if not your midlife crisis.
Zero-emission aircraft are ready for take-off, too, with electric aerial taxis now a thing. This year, experiential travel company Pelorus (pelorusx.com) and partner OceanSky Cruises will offer Clean Tech Expeditions to the North Pole aboard a helium-powered airship.
Back on land, the electric bicycle is opening up remote locations for those who want to explore at a gentle, emission-free pace without the slog of pedalling 20-plus miles a day – with hotels and cycling operators responding to demand and upgrading to e-bikes.
Take the trip: The Slow Cyclist (theslowcyclist.co.uk) has a new guided e-cycling holiday for 2023 in Turkey’s Taurus Mountains, following ancient mountain trails, wild swimming and sleeping in nomadic tents; from £3,350pp excluding flights. Alternatively, try family-friendly the Standard, Hua Hin (standardhotels.com/hua-hin) in Thailand; its Surf Club is stacked with surfboards, eFoils, and our old friend the SUP. Doubles from about £80, room only.
Live like a bear in the woods
It may not sound like much of a holiday, but half of us intend to swap hotel beds for bivouacs on a survival challenge in 2023. Perhaps it is due to war, lockdown, natural disasters, political uncertainty or Bear Grylls – but whatever the reason, 54 per cent of Britons are “keen to use travel in 2023 as an opportunity to learn survival skills”, including how to source clean water, light a fire, forage and even prepare for an apocalypse, according to travel site Booking.com.
Sam Bruce, co-founder of Much Better Adventures, believes this is a reaction to our sedentary lifestyles. “There was already a growing interest in these sorts of experiences pre-Covid, but the pandemic pressed the fast-forward button,” he says. “Doing something challenging, like learning survival skills in remote and extreme environments, is an antidote to your typical day-to-day.”
Take the trip: Much Better Adventures (muchbetteradventures.com) offers a three-night Arctic Wilderness Experience in Finland, teaching adventurers how to make a fire in snow, build a quinzhee shelter, and pull a pulka sledge with provisions for a night in the taiga forest, from £711pp, departures in Feb/March.
Set jetting
Film locations, TV series, books and social media are having more impact than ever on where we choose to travel. Since the new series of The White Lotus hit our screens, searches for villas in Sicily (and Taormina in particular) are up.
Meanwhile, luxury specialist Black Tomato is taking things to the next level with a limited edition of 60 bespoke James Bond itineraries in March, which will plunge adventurers into their own 007 mission – waterskiing along Lake Como and jumping on to a seaplane, or playing poker at the Casino de Monte Carlo – part of what founder Tom Marchant terms the “storification” trend: “We are seeing clients seeking to immerse themselves in a narrative from the silver screen… a real-life manifestation of dramatic escapism.”
Most influential of all? “Celebs are the number one source of travel inspiration in the UK, with Instagram the most Fomo-inducing,” research by Skyscanner.com shows. Almost half of travellers say “they’re more likely to book a trip if they’ve seen it on the platform”.
Take the trip: Black Tomato’s 007 The Assignment: Europe trips cost from £15,000pp for five nights (blacktomato.com/james-bond). The Thinking Traveller (thethinkingtraveller.com) has villas all over Sicily, including 16th-century Villa Carmine in Taormina (sleeps six, from £3,974) and two baroque mansions on Etna’s fertile slopes – Rocca Delle Tre Contrade and Don Arcangelo all’Olmo (both sleep 24; from €19,100 per week).
Gamma destinations
Recent research by Expedia found that 37 per cent of Britons would prefer to holiday in a lesser-known destination. And now that we can explore freely, intrepid travellers are again looking to be the first to visit these “Gamma destinations”, as Globetrender terms them in its deep-dive report for Pelorus – Luxury Travel and Yachting Trends: 2023-2027.
That means looking beyond Alpha destinations (such as Santorini and Venice) and even Beta spots (Antarctica and Oman, say). So where is hot – or rather, not hot, for 2023?
Former war zones are prime Gamma fodder and Wild Frontiers is leading the charge back to Lebanon as well as predicting “Albania mania” for the year ahead. Pelorus is looking to Socotra in Yemen, and to Gabon for its off-grid wildlife.
Take the trip: Wild Frontiers (wildfrontierstravel.com) offers its new week-long tour, Lebanon: Jewel of the Levant, from £2,560pp excluding flights. Original Travel (originaltravel.co.uk) has a 10-day tour of Albania from £2,410pp, with flights. Pelorus (pelorusx.com) offers a seven-night Unexplored Gabon trip from £9,000pp, excluding flights.
Skip-gen travel
The multigenerational holiday continues to grow, with the classic group expanding to encompass four or even five generations. But there is a new offshoot emerging for 2023, and that is “skip-gen travel” – grandparents taking grandchildren away on their own.
They are making up for time lost during the pandemic, but also helping out their own children – working parents (“dual-earner households are now the norm in the UK”, according to workingfamilies.org.uk) who are trying to fit full-time jobs around school holidays.
Red Savannah has flagged the trend. Its recommendation for the ultimate skip-gen holiday? “A safari is such a memorable way for grandparents and grandchildren to bond,” says founder George Morgan-Grenville, “experiencing the magic of the Big Five and other wildlife on game drives together.
Today’s luxury safari camps also offer exciting bush programmes for children, while delicious food and comfortable accommodation will ensure that grandparents are well looked after.”
Take the trip: Red Savannah can arrange safaris for grandparents and grandchildren at Cottar’s 1920s Camp in Kenya; prices on application (redsavannah.com/africa/kenya/hotels/cottars-1920s-camp). Closer to home, Longleat Safari Park, which sits beside Longleat House in Wiltshire, has two-bedroom cottages from £500 per night (longleat.co.uk).
Get back on track
The romance of train travel is so powerful it can overcome any number of strikes, delays and cancellations; so despite it all, rail holidays are on the rise, recent research by ABTA shows. Slow-travel specialist Inntravel says demand for its journeys by train in Europe and the UK has doubled since 2019, while in North America, rail trips are competing with more traditional road trips, says specialist Bon Voyage.
Sustainability is one reason behind the shift; Skyscanner’s latest report reveals that travel-related sustainability is important to 81 per cent of respondents. Cost is another. Alan Wilson, managing director of Bon Voyage, says that even after the “limited availability of car rental post-pandemic, rates are still at least double, even triple what they were in 2019”; the company has responded with journeys around America by train.
Take the trip: Inntravel (inntravel.co.uk) has several new rail journeys for 2023, including Journey along the Camino de Santiago, a trending destination; nine nights cost from £1,105 per person. Bon Voyage (bon-voyage.co.uk) offers an 11-day Heritage to Honky Tonk, takings in Deep South big hitters Nashville, Memphis and New Orleans by train and steamer, from £3,125 per person, including flights.
Grander tours
Unless you are a millennial or Gen Z digital nomad, staying for months in one place while mixing business and leisure (what only the travel industry is calling “bleisure” or, new for 2023, “lisness”), then 2023 is all about taking one long holiday.
One growing trend is to take in multiple destinations en route, whether you are a pensioner living like there’s no tomorrow or a parent taking the children on an eye-opening grand tour. We are also staying longer at each destination, which not only allows us to get under the skin of a place but is more sustainable.
Cost is a factor, too: Booking.com’s survey shows almost half of us believe the best use of our budget is to opt for one or two longer holidays instead of several short breaks.
Audley Travel is one tour operator that has identified this trend, noting that “Bookings for 2023 and beyond indicate a return to a slower, more complex, exploration style of travel”, with an average holiday duration of an unprecedented 19 days. Meanwhile, Tom Marchant of Black Tomato dubs it “World Family Robinson”.
Take the trip: Audley Travel (audleytravel.com) offers its 16-day Family Indochina tour around Laos, Vietnam and Cambodia from £5,245 per person, including flights. Cox & Kings (coxandkings.co.uk) has a 17-day Grand Tour of South America, taking in Peru, Brazil and Argentina, from £3,995.
The victory lap
A recent survey by Booking.com revealed that 84 per cent of us are looking forward to “nostalgic getaways” in 2023, in response to the current political and economic climate. “Amid global instability and the desire for escapism, Britons intend to carve out travel experiences that harken back to simpler times,” the report states.
Childhood holidays are a rich source of happy memories which, according to psychologists, we reach for to comfort ourselves in times of stress. This explains why so many of us will be heading to old-school seaside spots such as Cornwall and Mallorca next year.
Others are planning to return to the backpacking trails of their carefree gap years – India, Thailand, Peru or Australia, say – only this time with a bigger budget. Adventure brand Intrepid (intrepidtravel.com) calls this “Victory Lap Travel”, prevalent among those “in their 50s to 70s who visited destinations on a budget 20 to 30 years ago and now want to go back with more comfort and an easier pace”.
In response, the company has launched a Premium range of trips for the over-50s offering sustainable, authentic experiences but at a higher comfort level.
Take the trip: Intrepid (intrepidtravel.com) offers a 10-day Premium India tour taking in Delhi, Jaipur, the Taj Mahal, Ranthambore National Park and Varanasi, from £2,250 per person, excluding flights.
It's all about travel, not luxury
For most of us, cost will play a major part in where and how we travel in 2023 – a year which Skyscanner is calling “The year of price-driven decisions”, due largely to the rising cost of living. Nevertheless, many people say they are planning to go all-out on a big trip – and to do so they are prepared to give up other big-ticket luxuries rather than miss out on travel, as well as shopping around to find good value holidays that don’t scrimp on adventure. So travel and meaningful experiences have become the ultimate luxury treat to ourselves.
Naomi Hahn, vice-president of strategy at Skyscanner, says: “It’s clear that we are hungrier than ever to discover something new – even though we might have less money in our pockets next year. The aftermath of a pandemic has made travellers look for ways to make up for lost time and create new experiences and memories.”
Take the trip: G Adventures (gadventures.com) is offering an 11-day Backroads of Japan trip from £2,849 per person, including time spent at the Hagi Community Homestay.