End of Summer Edition: Travel On the Mind
A special edition to mark our last days of sunshine with extra travel trends to inspire your next adventures!
This month: Brand besties and the collaboration no one wanted; The evolution of Ozempic is a drink that turns into jelly in your stomach; Reality show formats enter gaming; It’s time to take yourself on a date; And how to navigate the sober curious life (by taking ayahuasca gummies.)
Travel For Good
Travel
Fresh out of holiday season, Alex is considering the undesirable trend of over-tourism, which has seen local residents from Barcelona, Lisbon, Oaxaca and beyond reclaim their cities from the crowded streets, soaring rents, and litter-strewn neighbourhoods. But what’s the long-term solution when humans’ innate desire to travel is unlikely to ever abate? Beyond tourist taxes, which critics suggest have negligible impact on visitor levels, there are more positively-minded measures being introduced to encourage more sustainable and considered travel practices:
- Copenhagen is piloting a reward system for tourists who contribute to more environmentally-conscious behaviours, making the city feel like a more affordable prospect
- Marseille has introduced a booking system for its neighbouring national park, forcing travellers to consider, in advance of their trip, how meaningful their visit is
- Japan is directing visitors to a more diverse set of regional wonders, in pursuit of spiritual encounters
If we are to find one serious take-out from this summer’s dubious travel trend of ‘rawdogging’, it might be that people are open to a more challenging, but more mindful form of leisure.
Passionate about ‘Passion Travel’
Travel
A new era of passion-led, self-discovery travel is on the horizon and is piquing Marina’s curiosity. According to Thrillist, 77% of Gen Zers and Millennials choose travel experiences based on their passion points, not the destination. With young people reimagining how and why they travel, bespoke experiences that reflect their personal interests will become an absolute must. Perhaps the most exciting thing about passion focused travel is that it’s very niche specific, which means the opportunities are endless when it comes to making the most of untapped and emerging hobbies, interests and obsessions. From the the reign of astro-tourism seeing an estimate of one to four million people travel this year to see the solar eclipse, to the rise of entomotourism or bug tourism driving Willamette Valley Vineyards to debut its mason bee tour and resident bee experts, to Tourism Ireland pitching Ireland as the home of Halloween on the back of the spooky tourism trend – ‘out of the ordinary’ experiences will increasingly become an ‘ordinary’ expectation among young travellers.
Music for all, music for any
Music
English pop-punk singer and songwriter Yungblud has announced his very own festival, Bludfest, in aims to ‘shake up’ the already ‘too expensive festivals’ out there, and as an avid concert-goer, Rafa has been obsessed with it. With big pop music names making their way to the UK, Ticketmaster has turned on its dynamic pricing system, skyrocketing prices due to high demand. Fans are appalled at the unaffordability of concerts nowadays, and have complained about the disconnect it creates between them and their fandom of choice. Bludfest is likely to guide fellow musicians away from Ticketmaster and the current inaccessibility around concerts by bridging the gap between fans and idols, with tickets set at a fixed price of £49.50. Continuing the punk tradition of challenging the system, Yungblud is the hero we wanted and needed.
What’s on your mind?
Curious about trends? Want to know more about something we’ve spotted? Let us know! Be it for businesses or personal curiosity, we’re here to help!
