New Zealand has plenty to offer in terms of nature and adventure tourism, like the beautiful Marokopa Falls in Waikato.
As popular destinations get crowded and locals protest poorly behaved visitors and so-called overtourism, holidaymakers are increasingly looking at veering “off the beaten path”.
Internet searches suggest next year’s tourists are looking at “detour destinations” such as Reims (France), Brescia (Italy) and Waikato (New Zealand), according to Expedia, while Booking.com reckons Trieste (Italy), Houston (United States) and Sanya (China) could be popular among holidaymakers.
More than half the people surveyed by Booking.com said they wanted to get out of the sun and avoid “tourist traps”. According to Expedia, “the hunt for the less crowded and less well-known” is driving people to look for new destinations as they plan ahead for 2025.
Nocturnal tourism looks set to become more popular, with people keen on locations that offer cool evenings and things to do at night other than drink or dance, according to Booking.com, whose survey results were published after two eye-catching and popular displays of aurora borealis in skies over Europe and North America where the lights are not usually clearly visible.
Expedia said 2025 will see travellers heading to locations where phenomena such as eclipses and volcanic eruptions are scheduled to be visible, with Utah (in the US), Iceland and even Somerset in England – site of an autumn murmuration of starlings – mentioned as destinations that people appear to have in mind.
According to Expedia, younger tourists are likely to be motivated by “JOMO” or joy of missing out – a buzzword to follow the better-known FOMO or fear of missing out – as they look for less-heralded or crowded destinations.
More than four in 10 of those surveyed by Booking.com said they would even resist the temptation to post on social media about their travels, in the hope of not drawing too much attention or too many travellers to the destinations.
However, so-called JOMO has its limits, going by Expedia’s list of detour destinations, most of which are within easy reach of more established counterparts, with Reims, site of a famous cathedral where French kings were crowned, less than 150km from Paris, and Brescia about an-hour-and-a-half drive from Milan. – dpa
