As the final months of 2023 slowly pass and 2024 approaches, people around the world are taking steps to keep their composure and not let events at home affect their mental health. While travel has been seen as a way to escape reality in recent years, new research suggests that travel will be the way to enjoy every moment of life in 2024.
With 81% of Vietnamese travelers saying they feel most comfortable and happy when traveling, and 72% wanting to maintain this comfortable and confident state when returning to their daily lives, to always be the best version of themselves. In 2024, AI will become a powerful tool, replacing tourists with boring tasks, giving us more opportunities to focus on exploring and doing the things we love.
Travel will take us away from our daily lives to live our passions, based on research from more than 27,000 travelers across 33 countries and territories, combined with data from leading digital travel platforms to come up with seven travel predictions for 2024.
(Alter) Ego Enthusiasts: Creating alter egos - Pursuing new egos
Creating epic versions of themselves while traveling will help travelers feel excited about their trips in 2024. 37% of travelers said they will bring their authentic stories to share when meeting other travelers. They feel excited to reimagine and live as a 2.0 version of themselves, with 78% of Vietnamese respondents saying they enjoy the anonymity of traveling and the opportunity to reinvent themselves from it.
Travelers tend to change and express a different side of themselves to feel more comfortable and enjoy themselves. 76% feel that vacation is the time to enjoy themselves to the fullest, to escape the constraints of everyday life and be their true personalities. 56% said they are willing to pay more to rent a "better" car than the one they usually drive to feel more confident.
In addition, 65% of Vietnamese travelers said they felt like the “main character” of their trips, becoming the star of their lives. Travel therefore brings a new personal interface for travelers to share inspiration on social networks.
Cool-cationers - "Cool" vacations
With global temperatures continuing to rise, travelers are looking for destinations that will help them escape the heat. Three in four Vietnamese travelers said global climate change will significantly impact how they plan to travel in 2024, with 75% saying that to escape the heat where they live, they will choose to vacation in cooler places.
The majority of Vietnamese tourists (82%) said that being near the beach or places near rivers helps them feel more relaxed and comfortable, and will choose to vacation at these locations in 2024.
As "water-based" vacations become a top priority, water-based relaxation and recreation services are expected to take off, including underwater meditation, floating yoga, water-sound therapy, mountain resorts, especially those covered in snow, and underwater hotels.
The water element and the coolness it brings will have points of intersection as tourists pay more attention in the coming year, helping them enjoy free swimming in natural flows, or seek ice therapy to soothe their souls.
Surrender Seekers - Letting Go of Control
Travelers in 2024 are more likely to choose spontaneous adventures. More than half (62%) will book a trip without researching until they arrive. The adventurous travelers of 2024 want to skip the planned vacation and explore new, unknown lands with strangers. Nearly 60% of Vietnamese travelers said they will not plan ahead for their vacation, and 81% will have a flexible plan to change their itinerary at any time.
The travel industry has been responding to this need by offering flexible services that use technology to allow travelers to cancel, change plans, and buy now and pay later with just one tap. The AI boom will become more visible in 2024: up to 65% of Vietnamese travelers will trust AI to plan their travel for the next year.
Culinary Excavators - Culinary Explorers
Cuisine plays an important role in the travel experience of 73% of Vietnamese tourists, as they want to discover "must-try" dishes at their destination more than ever. Culinary tourism will lead explorers to touch the unique cultural and historical values associated with local dishes, contributing to the preservation of unique cultural elements that were thought to have been lost, but are still preserved in dishes that touch all five senses of the enjoyer.
The majority of Vietnamese travelers (94%) will want to try local cuisine and explore traditional flavors in the coming year, opening doors to forgotten cultures in many parts of the world. Local travel experiences are forecast to increase sharply in 2024, taking travelers on culinary journeys with compelling stories, while bringing more pride and income to communities around the world.
Reboot Retreats - Healing Retreats
With the constant changes taking place in many places around the world, travelers will look for trips that help them develop themselves and find the life they desire.
62% of single Vietnamese travelers will spend their vacation time looking for a new love or lover. On the other hand, tired and busy parents are also more likely to book more personal vacations in the coming year. With the majority of parents in the Asia Pacific region (66%) going on vacation without their children and their spouses, to prioritize time for themselves.
A La Carte Affluencers - Optimize your budget, travel in luxury
Travelers in 2024 will cut costs and use those savings to buy high-end vacation experiences like the elite. These people want to show off their wealth, spending money without thinking about finances, but behind that is a detailed spending plan and an optimized travel itinerary built with the help of AI.
In fact, up to 71% of Vietnamese travelers want insights and tips from AI to upgrade their vacation experience with promotional recommendations and additional products/services, all with just a few simple taps.
In addition, in 2024, nearly half (48%) of travelers plan to choose destinations with a lower cost of living than their current home. Traveling closer to home will also attract travelers looking for luxury but less expensive vacations to minimize costs in 2024 (54%). 66% of Vietnamese travelers are willing to buy a day pass to use the facilities in a 5-star hotel instead of actually staying there. And a similar number of parents (66%) will plan to let their children take time off from school to travel during the low season to optimize their budget in 2024.
Mindful Aesthetes - Aesthetics goes hand in hand with mindfulness
In the past, “sustainability” and “style” were mutually exclusive, and “eco-tourism” conjured images of boring or unassuming resorts. But in 2024, travel will be about creative design and mindful experiences, opening up new and inspiring opportunities for guests who want to make conscious and responsible choices, not just for short breaks but as a way of life.
73% of Vietnamese travelers will look for accommodations with unique architecture that is creative and aesthetically pleasing while addressing environmental and social challenges. 78% of travelers want to see sustainable initiatives put into practice, and 83% want rooms designed with green spaces and plants that mimic natural landscapes. In 2024, in return for the effort and desire to preserve nature, travelers will receive more sustainable travel itineraries that take them to places that they are helping to preserve to continue their dedication and maintain mindfulness while traveling as much as possible.
Varun Grover, Country Manager for Booking.com Vietnam, said: “The travel trends for 2024 show that travel is not just an escape from reality, but a way for us to enjoy life with passion and excitement. From adventurous trips to new lands, to cultural discoveries and other multi-dimensional experiences, travel allows us to live the best version of ourselves. It is very encouraging that Vietnamese travelers maintain their desire to explore more sustainably and respect the cultural heritage of the places they visit.”
