Travel Trends
Exclusive: SOTC CEO reveals top trends of Indian travellers in summer 2025
In 2025, Indian travellers are reshaping summer tourism with a growing appetite for immersive, experience-driven holidays, said SOTC Managing Director and CEO Vishal Suri. In an exclusive conversation with CNBC-TV18, Suri noted that Indian holidaymakers are no longer content with conventional sightseeing tours or luxury stays.
“Indian travellers today aren’t just looking for landmarks or luxury hotels; they are instead seeking authenticity and memorable experiences,” he said. This shift is fuelling interest in global phenomena such as experiencing the Northern Lights in Iceland, Finland, and Murmansk, the Cherry Blossom season in Japan and South Korea, and the Midnight Sun in St Petersburg.
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Key summer travel trends in 2025
Suri highlighted several standout trends shaping this year’s peak holiday season.
Experiential and event-based travel: Travellers are planning their itineraries around major events like international concerts, global sports tournaments, and cultural festivals. “These events offer not just entertainment, but also an opportunity to explore cities through a new cultural lens,” he said.
Pilgrimage tours: A notable evolution in religious tourism is being led by younger demographics—millennials and Gen Z—who are combining spiritual visits with local adventures and food trails. “We are now witnessing a strong uptick from Young India,” said Suri.
BLeisure travel rebounds: Blending business and leisure travel is seeing renewed interest, with corporate travellers extending work trips to explore destinations with their families.
Rising Demand in MICE travel: Corporate group travel is booming. “At SOTC MICE, we are managing mid to mega groups (200-2000 travellers per group)” to both traditional and emerging destinations, Suri shared.
Higher spending, longer holidays: There’s a ‘clear increase’ in the duration of trips and a 20% rise in spending, which reflects stronger consumption for quality travel.
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When asked how travel trends of 2024 compare with the current season, Suri shared that in 2024, travel was in recovery mode, but now travel is expanding across business segments.
Demand has surged among diverse customer groups, from multi-generational families to young professionals. “Our regional tier 2 and 3 markets continue to be a powerful growth driver,” he added, crediting vernacular content and regional outreach for deeper market penetration.
He highlighted that cruise holidays too gained momentum, with Indian travellers showing growing interest in premium voyages to the Scandinavian Fjords, Caribbean, and Mediterranean. Self-drive tours and wellness retreats diversified SOTC’s portfolio.
He explained how family holidays continued to top the demand charts but stressed that there was a growing influence of millennials and Gen Z, who preferred international destinations for adventure activities like rafting in New Zealand and nightlife experiences in Bali and Ibiza.
“Millennials and Gen Z are reshaping the travel narrative with a thirst for adrenaline highs, authenticity and self-expression,” he said.
Moreover, couples opting for ‘workcations’ and wellness escapes are adding guided tour experiences to their itineraries, especially in the US, Australia, and New Zealand.
Sports tourism too emerged as a powerful new segment, with travellers planning holidays around events like the Wimbledon, Formula 1 races, the Olympics, etc. “These events are no longer just spectator moments; instead, they are lifestyle milestones,” Suri noted.
International travel soars in 2025
Lastly, Suri mentioned that outbound travel from India is rising in volume and is becoming more refined. Popular destinations for Indian travellers include Switzerland, France, Scandinavia, alongside Australia and New Zealand. Central Asian countries like Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, and Uzbekistan are gaining traction as ‘offbeat gems’ among Indian travellers.
Travel Trends
BCD Travel and Oversee partner to implement agentic AI for scalable, traveler-centric service
UTRECHT, THE NETHERLANDS – BCD Travel, one of the world’s leading corporate travel management companies, and Oversee, a travel technology company specializing in AI-powered spend optimization and agent operations, announced the expansion of their partnership. This move will scale Oversee’s agentic AI technology across BCD’s operational environment, following a successful multi-customer pilot focused on automating email-based service requests.
This partnership positions BCD as a future-ready TMC: blending technology and talent to transform service delivery, increase operational resilience and deliver a consistently high-quality experience for travelers and travel agents.
“At BCD, we’re continuously evolving to meet the needs of today’s business travelers,” said Yannis Karmis, Senior Vice President of Product Planning & Development at BCD. “Our partnership with Oversee aligns with our strategic focus on digital transformation, allowing us to automate intelligently while maintaining the personal service travelers expect.”
“We’re proud to partner with BCD to bring agentic AI into real-world operations,” said Aviel Siman-Tov, CEO and co-founder of Oversee. “Our agentic AI solution has been purpose-built to support the unique workflows of TMCs. Together with BCD, we’re proving how AI can enhance – not replace – the human side of travel management.”
Aviel Siman-Tov, CEO and co-founder, Oversee
Oversee’s agentic AI technology supports travel agents by automating repetitive tasks – such as booking requests, exchanges and shell PNR creation – enabling agents to focus on more complex service and support requests. Through this solution, BCD has improved agent workflows and increased SLA adherence across pilot markets.
The goal is not just speed, but quality, ensuring travelers receive fast, accurate responses 24/7, globally – without losing human touch.
In today’s rapidly evolving travel environment, BCD is taking bold steps to scale smartly – without compromising traveler care. By investing in AI-powered solutions, BCD is redefining the role of travel agents and building a service model designed for long-term agility and efficiency.
This partnership reflects a shared vision between BCD and Oversee: to build foundational AI capabilities that streamline global operations, empower travel agents, and elevate traveler satisfaction. As BCD continues to scale its service offering, this agentic AI platform will serve as a core enabler – delivering automation that’s fast, accurate, and globally scalable.
The article BCD Travel and Oversee partner to implement agentic AI for scalable, traveler-centric service first appeared in TravelDailyNews International.
MADRID – In 2024, the cruise industry reached a record 34.6 million passengers worldwide, 9.3% more than the previous year, and by 2025 this figure is expected to increase to 37.7 million. Furthermore, by 2030, the global cruise market is expected to generate revenues of 18.35 billion dollars with a compound annual growth rate of 12.9%, according to the ‘State of the Cruise Industry 2025’ report published by the Cruise Lines International Association (CLIA).
Faced with this solid expansion of the cruise sector, the International Tourism Trade Fair is responding to this global tourism trend and is offering the strategic opportunity of connecting with a dynamic market with great potential at the fifth edition of FITUR Cruises from 21 to 25 January at IFEMA MADRID.
Organised in collaboration with online magazine Cruceroadicto.com, the event will debut a redesigned space in Hall 4 of the Trade Fair Centre that will combine the exhibition area, the central auditorium and the Cruise Market business area, which in 2026 is gathering together the largest number of cruise lines and auxiliary industry companies.
FITUR Cruises’ dual strategy: B2B and B2C approach for a personalised offer
Over the course of the trade visitor days -Wednesday 21, Thursday 22 and Friday 23 January – FITUR Cruises 2026 will connect the key players that drive the sector’s solid performance and will offer an interesting programme of conferences. This will contribute to boosting cruise sales, reinforcing their public image as a holiday option and promoting awareness among sales agents and travellers.
Cruise Market will be the heart of FITUR Cruises 2026, acting as a meeting, work and business point between cruise lines, destinations, ports and tour operators, as well as between these actors with the trade visitor and the end traveller. For its part, Cruise Campus will continue with its innovative system of 25-minute talks and mini-courses focused on areas such as marketing for travel agents, who account for approximately 50% of the industry’s turnover, communication and the travel experience from all angles and with a more practical approach.
At the weekend, when FITUR opens its doors to the general public, the Cruises area will reinforce the loyalty of cruise passengers and organise awareness-raising activities on this type of tourism, bringing travellers closer to the diversity of the offer, which includes family cruises with attractions and a wide range of on-board leisure activities to ultra-luxury cruises with helicopters and submarines; premium and upper premium cruises offering fine dining; expedition lines; river cruises, or cruises specialising in a specific geographical area.
In addition, visitors can also take part in the fifth edition of the Cruise Scavenger Hunt, a big treasure hunt among the FITUR stands, as well as the popular Café & Cruises meeting where passengers can share their on-board experiences.
Cruceroadicto Awards, the only awards voted by the Spanish-speaking travel community
On Thursday 22 January, FITUR Cruises will be hosting the IV Cruceroadicto Awards ceremony, the only ones voted 100% by the Spanish-speaking travel community and certified by the AENOR mark for their commitment to transparency and impartiality. During the event, the best ship, cruise line and port of 2025 as well as the different sub-categories will be revealed.
The article FITUR Cruises 2026 reaffirms its commitment to the booming cruise holiday industry first appeared in TravelDailyNews International.
Travelers are blending business with leisure, seeking cooler climates, and working from inspiring new locations, but the hotel industry has largely remained unresponsive.
The data may not yet fully reflect the volume of these burgeoning trends, but this signals a crucial opportunity for proactive hoteliers to move beyond generic offerings and capture a growing market of guests seeking higher value and tailored experiences.
The disconnect between trending topics and hotel actions is apparent. Standard hotel offerings leave many travelers in these emerging categories underserved. Hotels have a clear opportunity to differentiate themselves and build guest loyalty.
Instead of waiting for overwhelming statistical evidence, savvy hoteliers should be at the forefront, shaping their services to meet and exceed the expectations of these new traveler personas. Here are three key actions hoteliers should take to interpret and act on the latest trends, ensuring they capture their full impact.
1. Deep Dive into Data and Decipher the “Why”
Understanding a trend’s relevance to your specific property is crucial before taking meaningful action. Acknowledging a new buzzword isn’t enough; investigate how it appears in your market and guest data to gain a deeper understanding of its relevance. Moving beyond guesswork and manual spreadsheet analysis is essential.
To truly unlock these insights, you need a hotel business intelligence (BI) system. A modern BI platform automates the collection and analysis of data from all your key systems—your Property Management System (PMS), point-of-sale (POS), and even online guest reviews. Instead of relying on gut feelings, a BI system provides a comprehensive view of guest behavior.
It can flag patterns, such as increasing lengths of stay that bridge a Thursday to a Monday (a classic bleisure indicator), correlate guest origin with on-site spending, or track booking lead times from specific markets. This technology enables you to identify emerging trends with statistical confidence, allowing you to act decisively while your competitors are still discussing it.
With this powerful analytical foundation, you can begin to dig deeper. Are you seeing longer stays that bridge weekdays and weekends? Are guests inquiring about workspaces or the reliability of high-speed internet? Is there an uptick in visitors from regions experiencing extreme heat during certain times of the year? A BI system will not only help you ask these questions but also give you the clear, data-backed answers you need to build your strategy.
2. Reimagine and Repurpose Your Physical Spaces
Once you have a handle on the trends impacting your business, the next step is to adapt your physical environment. A one-size-fits-all approach to hotel rooms and common areas will no longer suffice.
For the “work-from-anywhere” guest, this means more than just a desk and a chair. Consider creating dedicated, well-equipped workstations that feature ergonomic seating, ample power outlets, and excellent lighting for video calls. Could a lesser-used common area be transformed into a stylish and functional co-working space? Offering day passes to these spaces can also attract local remote workers, creating a new revenue stream.
Attract “bleisure” travelers by ensuring a seamless transition between work and relaxation. Offer packages that bundle a spa treatment or a happy hour credit with a room booking. Create a “Business and Leisure” section on your website to highlight your meeting facilities and proximity to local attractions.
For “coolcationers,” the focus shifts to the experience of the destination. While you can’t change the weather, you can enhance the enjoyment of it. Partner with local tour operators to offer unique excursions that capitalize on the pleasant climate, such as guided hikes, boat trips, or outdoor yoga sessions. In-room, you could provide amenities that encourage exploration, like pre-loaded transit cards or a curated guide to local parks and outdoor cafes.
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