? Expression, Purpose, Health, Connection and Technology emerge as key trends shaping the travel landscape for 2026 and beyond
? Download the full Why Travel? report here
SINGAPORE, Oct. 9, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- Food as the destination. Sweat-and-spa escapes. Tech-enhanced experiences. Travellers are rewriting the rulebook on why they travel, opting for meaning over mileage, and experiences over rote itineraries. Trip.com Group and Google explore this shift in Why Travel?, a new global consumer report that examines the intersection of purpose, people and place in travel.
By combining Trip.com Group's global booking intelligence and proprietary booking data with Google's research and search insights, the report uncovers how travellers are seeking deeper purpose and richer connections through culture, community, and technology to create more experience-focused journeys in 2026 and beyond.
The Why Travel report highlights five key themes that are shaping tomorrow's journeys: Travel as Expression (where identity and aesthetics drive choices), Travel with Purpose (where curiosity and meaning replace cookie-cutter itineraries), Travel to Heal (where wellness and restoration become the agenda), Travel to Connect (where music, sport, and multigenerational moments bring people together), and Travel of Tomorrow (where AI and immersive technologies redefine inspiration and discovery).
Key Insights from the Why Travel? Report
- Travel as Expression: Social media drives travel bookings. In markets like Thailand, Indonesia, and India, over 75% of travellers say they watch travel-related livestreams. Over 40% and up to 76% viewers in some markets say they're likely to book travel directly through links in livestreams.
- Travel with Purpose: Travellers increasingly crave cultural experiences with a more thoughtful sense of exploration. Google searches for "Japanese tea ceremonies" show a 53% year-on-year increase, demonstrating the power of traditional ritual and cultural practice to invite purpose.
- Travel to Heal: Wellness trips are evolving into a combination of physical challenge and restorative indulgence. Searches for "golf & spa resorts" grew by +300%, and "ski & spa" packages rose by +250% year-over-year.
- Travel to Connect: Travel is no longer a solo pursuit; it's a shared experience. Friends, families, and fan communities are influencing where people go, with concerts and sports as key travel drivers. Two thirds of travellers are willing to travel abroad for concerts, while endurance tourism sees a fivefold increase with runners, cyclists, and Hyrox competitors crossing borders to compete and connect.
- Travel of Tomorrow: Technologies like AI become the co-pilot as consumers' confidence in using technology to plan a trip grows. "Help planning my trip" searches grow by +190% YoY.
"Travel in 2026 will be more than movement; it's about meaning. At Trip.com Group, we are seeing travellers fly across the globe for fitness events, discover cities through local food scenes, and make booking decisions driven by social influence. By working with Google, we uncover the cultural shifts that explain not just where people go, but why they travel," said Han Feng, Vice President of Trip.com Group.
"We're seeing a clear shift in how and why people explore the world, seeking deeper purpose, richer connections and experiences enhanced by technology. Google's AI tools like Gemini, AI Mode on Search and Google Translate are emerging as travel collaborators to help people plan and make decisions. AI is an essential tool also for the industry, enabling partners like Trip.com Group to capture the immense opportunities that lie ahead in 2026 and beyond," said Joyce Zhang, Managing Director, Greater China LCS Specialists team, Google.
With community becoming a core booking motivator and AI-first travel increasing, Trip.com Group is doubling down on comprehensive concert travel packages and continues to expand AI-driven planning tools such as Trip.Planner to deliver seamless, personalised journeys. Looking ahead, the next wave of consumer growth will be driven by emotional alignment, cultural fluency, and tech-enabled flexibility - the foundations of the future of travel.
Get up-to-date on the latest trends and insights shaping travel by downloading the full report here.
About Trip.com Group
Trip.com Group is a leading global travel service provider comprising of Trip.com, Ctrip, Skyscanner, and Qunar. Across its platforms, Trip.com Group helps travellers around the world make informed and cost-effective bookings for travel products and services and enables partners to connect their offerings with users through the aggregation of comprehensive travel-related content and resources, and an advanced transaction platform consisting of apps, websites and 24/7 customer service centres. Founded in 1999 and listed on NASDAQ in 2003 and HKEX in 2021, Trip.com Group has become one of the best-known travel groups in the world, with the mission "to pursue the perfect trip for a better world". Find out more about Trip.com Group here: group.trip.com.
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About Google
Google's mission is to organise the world's information and make it universally accessible and useful. Through products and platforms like Search, Maps, Gmail, Android, Google Play, Chrome and YouTube, Google plays a meaningful role in the daily lives of billions of people and has become one of the most widely-known companies in the world. Google is a subsidiary of Alphabet Inc.
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