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Future. Destination.
Trends. 2025
Monthly insights that shape tomorrow's travel landscape. Expert-curated trends analysed by CMO panels to separate revolutionary shifts from fleeting fads.
Meet the Trends Panel
Leading CMOs and destination strategists who evaluate each trend for real-world impact and longevity.
Emma Campbell
Sector Marketing Director
DCT Abu Dhabi
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Insuk Kim
Digital Content Manager
Visit Greenland
Claire Cadogan
Head of Digital Marketing
Fáilte Ireland
Sanne van Let
Manager Digital
NBTC
Orla O'Keeffe
Head of Industry Digitalisation
Fáilte Ireland
Eleni Skarveli
Director GNTO UK & Ireland
Greek National Tourism Organisation
Nils Persson
Chief Marketing Officer
Visit Sweden
Charel van Dam
Marketing Director
NBTC
Line Nøhr
Chief Marketing Officer
VisitDenmark
Catharina Riess
Director Mediahouse
Vienna Tourist Board
Alice Mansergh
Chief Executive
Tourism Ireland
Oliver Csendes
CEO
Hungarian Tourism Agency
Gloria Loree
Chief Marketing Officer
Destination Canada
Lukas Merl
Deputy Director Brand Management
Vienna Tourist Board
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Jørgen Flo
Tech Lead
Visit Norway
Giannis Giatas
Content Marketing Manager
Marketing Greece
Kathrin Chambers
Digital Marketing Manager
Fáilte Ireland
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Rhoda Davids
Head of Digital Marketing
Cape Town Tourism
Christine Baglo
Editor-in-chief
Visit Norway
Emma Campbell
Sector Marketing Director
DCT Abu Dhabi
Insuk Kim
Digital Content Manager
Visit Greenland
Claire Cadogan
Head of Digital Marketing
Fáilte Ireland
Sanne van Let
Manager Digital
NBTC
Orla O'Keeffe
Head of Industry Digitalisation
Fáilte Ireland
Eleni Skarveli
Director GNTO UK & Ireland
Greek National Tourism Organisation
Nils Persson
Chief Marketing Officer
Visit Sweden
Charel van Dam
Marketing Director
NBTC
Line Nøhr
Chief Marketing Officer
VisitDenmark
Catharina Riess
Director Mediahouse
Vienna Tourist Board
Alice Mansergh
Chief Executive
Tourism Ireland
Oliver Csendes
CEO
Hungarian Tourism Agency
Gloria Loree
Chief Marketing Officer
Destination Canada
Lukas Merl
Deputy Director Brand Management
Vienna Tourist Board
Jørgen Flo
Tech Lead
Visit Norway
Giannis Giatas
Content Marketing Manager
Marketing Greece
Kathrin Chambers
Digital Marketing Manager
Fáilte Ireland
Rhoda Davids
Head of Digital Marketing
Cape Town Tourism
Christine Baglo
Editor-in-chief
Visit Norway
Trend Timeline
Track the evolution of destination innovation month by month.
October 2025
Star Power
Celebrity ambassadors increasingly drive aspirational destination interest
View TrendJune 2025
Spatial Discovery
XR technologies will supercharge brand discovery through immersive content and gamification.
View TrendApril 2025
Voice Vision
The future of AI search will engage multiple senses through natural language processing advancements.
View TrendFebruary 2025
Delegated Discovery
AI Systems as the New Gatekeepers of Destination Marketing
View TrendSummer 2025
Reach Redefined
Social search is rapidly becoming the central pillar of destination marketing
View TrendMay 2025
Campaign Equilibrium
As brand loyalty erodes, destinations are moving beyond rigid, large-scale periodic campaigns.
View TrendMarch 2025
Values Vortex
With diversity and inclusion under threat, should destinations use their brand voice to take a stance?
View TrendJanuary 2025
Triplexity
2025 disruption forces brands to adapt social, economic and climate strategies for new opportunities.
View TrendNo items found.
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Latest Trends
Each month, our expert panel evaluates emerging trends to deliver actionable insights for destination leaders.
October 2025
Star Power
Celebrity partnerships generate enormous media exposure. However, finding the right match requires building synergies between a destination's unique identity with a celebrity's iconic status or personal brand. This enables richer storytelling that has a distinctive personality. Yet, while leveraging celebrity influence often remains crucial to destination marketing, does it still lend a credibility that empowering visuals alone cannot match?
Read Full Analysis
CMO Verdict
Impact Score
Trend
Trend
6
6
"Is this a disruptive trend? In itself, no, but in the way brands need to address it: yes - more diverse platforms, the speed of trends fading, etc. - all require different approaches to succeed nowadays."
Catharina Riess, Wien Tourismus
View Infographic
Summer 2025
Reach Redefined
Google's integration of Instagram content into its search index means that visually-rich content is now directly contributing to a destination's organic search presence. This makes Instagram optimisation a critical new facet of SEO. Brands must now skillfully balance the creation of engaging content tailored for their loyal follower base with an expanded focus on optimising content for discoverability by entirely new audiences via search.
Read Full AnalysisCMO Verdict
Impact Score
Trend
Trend
6.3
6.3
"It is a strong trend at the moment, but depending on future technological developments, it might change rapidly."
Eleni Skarveli, GNTO
View Infographic
June 2025
Spatial Discovery
Ongoing advancements, from tech giants Google, Meta, Snap and Apple, will redefine top-of-funnel discovery and build immediate connections with destinations through highly immersive and informative visitor touchpoints. In transporting visitors to a 3D digital environment, top-of-funnel inspiration will be ignited through interactive virtual destination previews. The integration of gamification also presents a potent avenue for destinations to foster deeper engagement and memorable interactions, particularly when targeting younger demographics.
Read Full AnalysisCMO Verdict
Impact Score
Trend
Trend
6
6
"I think it will be something that gradually impacts storytelling and content, but it will not happen overnight. The barriers are still too high and expensive, both on the sender and consumer side."
Nils Persson, Visit Sweden
View Infographic
May 2025
Campaign Equilibrium
As brand loyalty erodes, destinations are moving beyond rigid, large-scale periodic campaigns. There's a growing recognition that the balance must shift towards nimble marketing strategies that prioritise "always-on" activations. By reacting to changing visitor behaviours, destinations can deliver genuinely authentic and resonant content, optimising every touchpoint for maximum engagement and impact throughout the entire year, rather than relying on episodic bursts of activity.
Read Full AnalysisCMO Verdict
Impact Score
Trend
Trend
5.4
5.4
"Audience behaviours shift as quickly as the ways people discover and share travel inspiration. This means we can no longer afford to wait for major campaign moments to engage."
Rhoda Davids, Cape Town Tourism
View Infographic
April 2025
Voice Vision
The future of AI search will engage multiple senses through natural language processing advancements. Voice and visual search capabilities are growing rapidly across platforms, enabling users to search via speech and images instead of typing. This provides better accessibility and more intuitive, context-rich results. Organisations adopting these human-centric search methods will gain competitive advantages and collect richer data than text-only approaches.
Read Full AnalysisCMO Verdict
Impact Score
Trend
Trend
7
7
"For over 15 years, voice has been heralded as the next dominant interface between humans and machines. Voice (alongside texting) is expected to continue leading the way in how we interact with technology."
Oliver Csendes, Hungarian Tourism Agency
View Infographic
March 2025
Values Vortex
Across the world, as society becomes ever more polarised, values are increasingly becoming the elephant in the room. While neutrality is perceived as a tacit endorsement of the status quo, being outspoken risks alienating certain audiences. Facing what seems like a binary choice, the championing of progressive values through creative storytelling and brand narratives is becoming a powerful point of differentiation for destinations, affecting long-term brand reputation and driving meaningful connections.
Read Full AnalysisCMO Verdict
Impact Score
Trend
Trend
8.2
8.2
"People will feel compelled to act...do so when you are informed by data, not a lot of feelings. It is important to put scenarios together and put plans in place that are agile. And remember that no decision is the enemy of opportunity."
Gloria Loree, Destination Canada
View Infographic
February 2025
Delegated Discovery
As AI agents evolve from simple assistants to autonomous decision-makers, they're revolutionising how travellers research, plan, and book their experiences. This fundamental shift, accelerated by developments like AI Overviews and more recently OpenAI's Operator challenges destinations to rethink their strategies for an era where AI intermediaries increasingly shape the visitor cycles.
Read Full AnalysisCMO Verdict
Impact Score
Trend
Trend
7.3
7.3
"We need to be able to adapt our strategies as this develops, for example we may in the near future see less 'visits' and more 'agents' visiting sites and this has implications for how our sites and content are designed and optimised."
Orla O'Keefe, Fáilte Ireland
View Infographic
January 2025
Triplexity
Social, economic and environmental disruption defined the start of 2025, forcing brands to reset their strategies. Platform changes and ethical concerns are reshaping content priorities, while Europe’s slowdown and climate milestones demand sharper targeting. Destinations that adapt quickly can turn instability into strategic advantage.
Read Full AnalysisCMO Verdict
Impact Score
Fad
Fad
4
4
"2025's challenges, from social media upheaval to Europe's economic headwinds, create challenges but also opportunities for agile destinations willing to innovate, adapt targeting strategies and truly embrace sustainability."
Nick Hall, DTTT
View Infographic
Join Future. Destination. Brand.
FDB is a gathering of some of the most innovative, leading destination and travel brands globally and takes inspiration from a truly incredible line-up of some of the best in class digital examples of destination brand creativity and activation.
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