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TRENDS FOR 2021


How will our travel priorities shift next year? Katie McGonagle asks the experts


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redicting travel trends is a tricky task at the best of times, but after a year in which our lives have changed almost beyond recognition, there’s no doubt how we holiday has changed too. Customers who once focused on finding the best bargain or


the best beach are now asking about safety, testing requirements and cancellation policies, while others are playing it safe by shifting their sights to destinations that feel more familiar. Yet there’s also a wave of travellers who’ve spent lockdown plotting their


next great escape, rolling over this year’s holiday fund to finally embark on a long-dreamed-about adventure. To help you make sense of some of those shifts, we’ve polled experts


across the industry to find out which travel trends will gather pace as we all look ahead to a better, brighter 2021.


17 DECEMBER 2020 travelweekly.co.uk 2


1 SHORT-HAUL FAVOURITES


Even with a vaccine rollout heralding a return to a little more normality, travellers’ confidence will take time to rebuild, so it shouldn’t be a surprise that many are sticking to old-favourite destinations they know and love for their first trip post-pandemic. The latest Abta research found just 32% of people were keen to visit a country they’d never been to before, down from 45% last year. Operators have responded by ramping up short-haul programmes to meet demand. G Adventures, for example, released seven European tours aimed at the UK market, covering Andalusia, Ibiza, Corfu, Crete, Sicily, the Azores and Greenland, with departures from March. EMEA managing director Brian Young says: “We’re bringing together some of Europe’s most- loved destinations, which have traditionally been popular for package breaks, cruising or nightlife, and offering travellers the opportunity to see a completely different side to their favourite holiday spot.”


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