Every year, the biggest travel platforms publish research on how traveller behaviour is shifting. In 2026, three of them - Expedia, Booking.com and Airbnb - surveyed a combined total of over 53,000 people across 33 countries. These aren't journalist opinions or marketing forecasts. They're real data on real behaviour.

I went through all three reports and pulled out seven trends that are worth understanding - especially if you think about travel not as a once-a-year event but as part of how you actually live.

"Travellers in 2026 are no longer choosing where to go. They're choosing how they want to feel. Emotion has become the primary criterion for destination selection."

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Trend 1 - Expedia Unpack '26
Set-Jetting: Screen-inspired travel became an $8 billion industry
Travel inspired by films and TV series has moved well beyond a niche hobby. Expedia found that 81% of Gen Z and millennial travellers now plan trips based on locations featured in cinema and television. After the third season of The White Lotus, Airbnb bookings in Koh Samui surged by over 500%. Seoul developed a tour route based on Korean dramas and saw immediate booking spikes. In the US alone, this single niche is projected to generate $8.45 billion in travel spend.
81% of Gen Z plan a set-jetting trip in 2026
Source: Expedia Unpack '26 - 24,000 travellers from 18 countries
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Trend 2 - Expedia + Booking.com
Quiet Tourism: people are done collecting destinations
The era of "10 cities in 7 days" itineraries is giving way to slow, intentional travel. Booking.com is seeing growing demand for remote nature locations, spiritual retreats and wellness destinations. Quiet tourism is especially popular among 35-44 year olds (46%). People no longer want to visit a place - they want to feel it. This is fundamentally reshaping how destinations need to position themselves.
46% of 35-44 year olds choose quiet tourism formats
Source: Booking.com Travel Predictions 2026 - 29,000 travellers from 33 countries
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03
Trend 3 - Hotels.com / Expedia
Salvaged Stays: historic buildings are the new luxury
Hotels.com is tracking a surge in interest in "salvaged" accommodation - former schools, banks, railway stations and factories converted into hotels. Travellers increasingly value the unique character of a place over a standardised five-star experience. A 19th-century bank vault converted into a boutique hotel competes with a new Marriott - and often wins among younger, more discerning guests.
Salvaged Stays named one of Expedia's 7 key trends for 2026
Source: Hotels.com / Expedia Unpack '26
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Trend 4 - Expedia
Hotel Hop: one city, multiple hotels
More than half of travellers (54%) now book multiple hotels within a single destination on the same trip. This used to seem odd. Today it's a deliberate experience strategy: two nights in a boutique hotel in the historic centre, then two nights in a design hotel in a contemporary neighbourhood. Each property is a separate experience, not just a place to sleep. This is reshaping both booking logic and service expectations.
54% of travellers book multiple hotels within one destination
Source: Expedia Unpack '26
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Trend 5 - Booking.com
Wellness Travel: health as the primary purpose of the trip
Booking.com is tracking sustained growth in demand for wellness destinations - spa resorts, thermal springs, Ayurveda retreats, digital detox programmes. 63% of travellers are willing to pay extra for accommodation with specific wellness characteristics. People travel not "somewhere" but "to recover." This isn't a passing trend - it's a structural shift in what motivates people to travel at all.
63% willing to pay extra for wellness accommodation features
Source: Booking.com Travel Predictions 2026
06
Trend 6 - Airbnb
TikTok Escapes: Gen Z books 1-2 day trips from viral content
Airbnb is tracking a new pattern among Gen Z: short, high-intensity 1-2 day escapes driven by viral TikTok itineraries. Not planning months ahead - spontaneous booking triggered by watching a video. This is a fundamentally different decision-making model. It demands a different speed of response from the industry across marketing, content and booking availability.
Spontaneous 1-2 day Gen Z bookings named key Airbnb trend for 2026
Source: Airbnb 2026 Predictions
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Trend 7 - Expedia + AI data
AI in Travel: 64% annual growth and smarter trip planning
Annual growth in AI usage across the travel sector is running at 64%. Platforms are deploying AI assistants for route planning, hotel selection and personalised recommendations. But the data reveals something interesting: AI amplifies the desire to travel rather than replacing the human experience. People use the technology to plan better - not instead of going at all.
64% - annual growth rate of AI adoption in the travel industry
Source: 6Sns Travel Trends Research 2026

What this actually means

If you distil all seven trends into one conclusion: travel in 2026 is becoming more personal and less mass-market. People have stopped buying "a trip" and started constructing an experience.

This is good news for people who travel intentionally. The industry is moving toward them - more formats, more niche offerings, more options for those who know what they're looking for.

It's bad news for mass tourism in its old form. The standard package tour - flight plus hotel plus excursion - is competing against a growing range of alternatives, and losing on personalisation, price and experience quality.

"The winner won't be whoever offers the cheapest package. It will be whoever offers the right experience to the right person at the right moment."

Sources
  • Expedia Group - Unpack '26: The Trends in Travel (24,000 travellers, 18 countries, October 2025)
  • Booking.com - Travel Predictions 2026 (29,000 travellers, 33 countries)
  • Airbnb - 2026 Travel Predictions (first-party booking and search data)
  • Hotels.com - Hotels of the Year 2026
  • 6Sns - Travel Trends 2026 Research