How will we travel 2017 – trends and predictions

Our choice of destination shows who we are, especially as we are eager to share our travel experiences on social media and we want to stand out and be different, both when it comes to what we see and what we do. Online and individual bookings as well as apps already play a vital role before and during travel, but what are the actual  travel trends for 2017? We asked editor in chief, Kajsa Beausang from the Swedish travel magazine RES to reveal her predictions to us. 

Kajsa Beausang from the Swedish travel magazine RES on Swedish TV4 talking about travel trends.

Travelling as a reflection of your lifestyle

We travel individually and value personal freedom on a trip. The choice of trip and destination shows who we are and who we want to be – like how we dress and how we decorate our homes – traveling has become a type of status indicator and identity. We choose destinations based on leisure, interests and hobbies, such as wine tours, marathon trips, surf trips, etc. We put more and more focus on staying at a particular, very special, hotel, something we also want to show off on social media. The number of days for a trip varies more, the traditional weekly trip loses in popularity, now we travel more often, but take shorter trips instead.

Discovering the real and genuine destination

Although the large volumes of travelers continue to head for the classic holiday destinations, we can still see some trends in traveling. A general trend is to travel to other cities, we want to discover the second largest city in the country rather than the capital, we want to see something new, but we are also looking for the genuine. The interest in the cities in Eastern Europe keeps increasing all the time. We are looking to get away from the more touristic city centers and instead seek out neighborhoods where the “real life is going on.”

Social inspiration and postcards

We use digital media, apps and social media more and more all the time. Facebook and other social medias are the new postcards and one should not underestimate the pleasure of getting to brag a little. Social media is also a very important source of inspiration in the choice of destination – we enjoy traveling to places where we have seen that friends and acquaintances whom we admire have been. More and more trips and accommodations are booked via mobile devices and we are increasingly using apps and digital media when we are on the destination. We download offline maps and use city guide apps increasingly.

Thanks for sharing your thoughts Kajsa!

In fact I recognized myself and my family immediately in these trends. In November last year, I traveled with my family and friends to Berlin via the Trelleborg-Rostock route. We wanted to be spontaneous so we didn’t plan more than the first activity and the hotel. Instead, we used apps and Google to find things to do and places to visit once we had arrived to the German capital. It turned out to be a good idea in some aspects (finding restaurants and places that we probably wouldn’t have visited otherwise and on the same time getting to know the “real Berlin”) and a less great idea in other aspects (missing attractions due to the fact that we had to prebook and show up at a certain time). But anyhow, apparently it’s very symptomatic for how we all will travel 2017.

Regarding the social medias being a very important source for travel inspiration, we will do our best to inspire you all on our blogs and other social channels throughout the year. And please let us know what you want to read about! Write a comment below. Thanks! /ylva.