It’s that time of year again. The travel trends and predictions lists are out, offering a glimpse of the themes and expectations for the coming year.
Do the 2026 travel predictions check out for the youth market?
To find out, we reviewed four lists, identified themes found across several lists and asked members of WYSE Travel Confederation what they thought. Expedia, Booking.com, Skyscanner and Hilton, have recently highlighted themes and trends they expect for the coming.*
Popular travel themes for 2026 include:
- Road trips
- New forms of wellness travel, such as beauty and skincare trips, quiet and calm activities and retreats like reading and visiting rural areas or farms
- Unique, fantasy-driven trips that include tech-enabled accommodation, restored or repurposed places of heritage, or visiting locations from films or books
- Multi-generational family or group travel centered around celebrations, exploration of family history or letting the kids direct the fun
- Romantic relationships, whether that be making new romantic connections or testing existing ones.
So, do these predictions check out for businesses in youth and student travel? Where do they fall short? What will be unique about the youth travel market in 2026?
Overall, the WYSE members we spoke to saw evidence of these travel themes and trends. However, there was one aspect where these lists fell short: community.
“We feel that these trend reports miss the importance of community and social connections, which are key drivers for the youth travel market,” noted Mathilde Armanet of Capsule Hotel in Switzerland.
Several WYSE members felt similarly that the “human” aspects of travel are often missing from such lists.
“The human side of travel, meeting others, sharing, learning, is often missing” commented Fabio Coppola of YellowSquare. “For the youth market, that’s the heart of everything”.
“I would have been interested in seeing something around anxiety, since that is something we see – more young travellers have more anxiety issues than they did before,” noted Phil Cabra Netherton of Euroventure Travel.
“I feel like the ‘48 hours in a capital city’ bucket-list mindset is losing appeal,” said Eva Narkevitch of Saintlo. “What’s gaining ground are authentic, unplanned experiences.”
The business outlook for youth travel in 2026 is largely optimistic and hopeful with agility and a dash of curiosity.
Read more about how the hostels and tour operators in the WYSE Travel Confederation network are viewing travel and tourism trends for 2026
“We’re seeing less of the quick “Instagram-only” style of travel. People are looking for more purpose and connection in their trips.”
Mathilde Armanet
Marketing Manager
Capsule Hotel
“We are investing in digital solutions for seamless booking and exploring partnerships for wellness-oriented activities.“
Anna Redaelli
Sales Manager
Ostello Bello
“If guests and locals connect naturally, we scale it. If not, we move on.”
Fabio Coppola
Chief Visionary Officer
YellowSquare
“We stay flexible and open-minded, adapting intelligently without chasing every trend blindly.”
Eva Narkevitch
Coordonnatrice Marketing
Saintlo
“We are preparing for a future where fewer and fewer people trust online content.”
Phil Cabra Netherton
Marketing Director
Euroventure Travel
*More information about the lists that we reviewed can be found below.
Expedia Unpack ‘26
Expedia highlights destinations of interest for 2026 and introduces the new Smart Travel Health Check. The Smart Travel Health Check applies WTTC’s framework for responsible tourism to travel trends that Expedia has identified for 2026. Expedia’s Destinations of the Year list highlights destinations that offer “meaningful, high-quality travel experiences” and “proactively manage tourism for long-term sustainability” within six travel themes for 2026:
- Fan voyage – international sports events
- Salvage stays – restored, renovated re-purposed places and spaces (heritage)
- Hotel hop – multiple hotels in one destination per stay
- Readaways – ‘getting lit’, reading ‘retreats’ for the individual
- Farm charm (farms and rural areas)
- Set-jetting (films
Expedia Destinations of the year 2026:
- USA: Big Sky, Montanna and Fort Walton Beach, Florida
- Japan: Okinawa
- Italy: Sardinia
- Vietnam: Phu Quoc
- France: Savoie
- Canada: Ucluelet, British Columbia
- UK: Cotswolds
- Mexico: San Miguel de Allende
- Australia: Hobart, Tasmania
Booking.com Travel Predictions for 2026
Booking.com has declared 2026 as “the year to travel on your terms” and “your way”. The OTA has identified trends that indicate journeys are more and more being built around personal interests, even niche ones, and personal style. Booking.com’s predicted travel themes for 2026 suggest that travel is taken to be a “reflection of who people truly are” and a way to “authentically embrace yourself”. Booking.com highlights ten travel themes they believe will be popular in 2026:
- Modern milestone missions (celebrations)
- Hushed hobbies (quiet, nature)
- Romantasy retreats (fantasy escapes)
- Readaways – ‘getting lit’, reading ‘retreats’ for the individual
- Turbulence test (relationship tests)
- Glow-cations (skincare/beauty)
- Shelf-ie souvenirs (unique mementos)
- Past-Ports (nostalgia, history)
- Humanoid homes (tech-enhanced accommodation)
- Rewired road trips (meet-ups on the road)
- Destined-ations (spiritual motivations)
Hilton 2026 Trends
Hilton highlights a shift towards intentional travel, or the ‘whycation’. Declaring purpose and intention as “travel’s new starting point”. Hilton believes that in 2026 travellers will question why they travel rather than just where they should go. Five themes make up Hilton’s view for 2026:
- Hushpitality (silence, peaceful surroundings)
- Home comforts (familiarity)
- Generation permutations (expanded families, play / fun)
- Inheritourism (family)
- Turbulence test (relationship tests)
- US road trip
Skyscanner 26 Travel Trends
Skyscanner believes that 2026 will bring cheaper international flights from new LCC routes and outlines seven themes that will characterise trips in 2026:
- Glowmads (skincare)
- Shelf discovery (supermarket culinary tourism)
- Catch flights & feelings (meeting new romantic interests)
- Bookbound (literary destinations
- Altitude shift (mountains)
- Family miles (multi-generational trips)
- Destination check-in (hostels as main attraction)
Skyscanner trending destinations 2026:
- Limon, Costa Rica
- Jaipur, India
- Bodrum, Turkey
- Madeira, Portugal
- Vail, Colorado, USA
Skyscanner most affordable destinations 2026:
- Sao Paulo, Brazil
- Singapore, Singapore
- Venice, Italy
- Mexico City, Mexico
- Istanbul, Turkey