The trends that will define touring and adventure in 2024
Savvy agents will be focusing on big-ticket family holidays, solo travel and premium tours, say leading touring and adventure operators, as they share their new products and top-selling trips for the coming year.
We can all agree that travel has turned a corner this year. Regions that were slower to recover from the pandemic are back on the table, and pent-up demand has fuelled appetites for adventurous holidays and one-off trips – a trend that looks set to continue into 2024.
Tour operators are predicting strong demand for big-ticket family holidays and options for solo travellers to continue to flourish. The buzzword for next year is “premium touring,” with operators across the board anticipating big sales in private tours, upgraded accommodation and exclusive experiences.
“Since Covid travel restrictions eased it’s been clear that travellers are eager to lock in achievement-based or bucket-list trips,” says Brian Young, managing director, UK & Ireland for G Adventures.
Here is a snapshot of touring and adventure trends for this year.
ADVENTURE TRAVEL
Families Worldwide is predicting renewed interest in safari holidays following the release of Mufasa: The Lion King in July 2024. Its new Kenya Family Adventure & Safari combines wildlife viewing with cycling and boat safaris and a thrilling white-water rafting adventure on the Sagana River.
Newmarket Holidays’ tour to the Karongwe Game Reserve in South Africa features a stay at the tented Chisomo Safari Camp in the Big Five Karongwe Game Reserve in Limpopo. “It’s an exciting new accommodation style for us,” says Verity Rice, director of product, purchasing & operations.
Riviera Travel has introduced an eight-day Kenya: Lake Nakuru & Maasai Mara Safari tour (from £3,099pp) with an optional extension to include Samburu. Intrepid is launching 100 new trips in 2024; many of them flight-free. Long-haul trips include a Best of Costa Rica Family Holiday that takes families to Tortuguero National Park with lodge accommodation close to the Arenal volcano (from £2,550pp).
“Adventure” is front and centre of the Exodus Adventure Travels rebrand, with new trips including a walking tour along England’s north-east coast, cycling adventures in Europe and a cultural tour of Thailand.
DESTINATION TRENDS
It’s not just the Olympic Games that will put host country France in the spotlight next year. The 80th anniversary of the D-Day Landings takes place on Omaha Beach on 6 June. Leger Shearings Group’s head of retail sales, Ashley Dellow, says: “Tours that include the landmarks are seeing increased sales as interest grows across all generations.”
Known for its European coach holidays, Leger has launched its first standalone UK & Ireland brochure, featuring a raft of self-drive hotel breaks. Dellow adds: “Demand for staycations shows no sign of slowing. Our new UK breaks collection will let agents show customers the very best of the destinations on their doorstep.”
Wendy Wu has exciting new rail tours in China and India and is expecting strong demand for its all-balcony Victoria Mekong river ship, which soft-launched pre-pandemic. The Magical Mekong Cruise and Beach (from £2,499pp) combines a week’s cruise with four nights on the beach at Phu Quoc Island, in Vietnam.
Crossing continents, Journey Latin America highlights this month’s opening of Tulum’s international airport on the Riviera Maya and the launch of the only direct (13-hour) flight from London Heathrow to Lima with Latam, while Cox & Kings has a new combination tour, fusing the Galapagos with Machu Picchu.
PREMIUM TAKES OFF
Holidays to Japan, Peru, Costa Rica, Mexico and Vietnam will be among the first in G Adventures’ new Geluxe Collection. Community tourism will be “at the heart of the collection” according to the operator. “This is upgraded travel done the G Adventures way,” says Young. In Japan, clients can kayak on Lake Tazawako and trek along the Michinoku Coastal Trail in northeastern Tohoku.
Intrepid Travel’s new itineraries include Premium Tasmania, Premium Sweden and Norway, and Premium South Korea. The latter includes a stay at the Unesco-listed Haeinesa Temple on Mount Gaya. “The range has been extra popular with midlife travellers who may have visited a destination backpacking in their 20s and want to go back at a slightly slower pace and in comfort. We call this the ‘victory lap’,” says general manager UK and Europe, Hazel McGuire.
Leger is responding to demand for upmarket hotels and transport with its Silver Service Signature Collection of 26 tours featuring hotels in scenic locations and luxury travel by Silver Service coach.
TOP SELLERS
After just three months on the market, Japan Unveiled is one of Newmarket Holidays’ top-selling tours. Also performing well is the new Exclusively Solos range, with the Snapshot of Western Sicily (from £1,287pp) becoming one of the operator’s biggest-selling holidays across all tour types. Vietnam, Cambodia, Turkey, Canada and Marrakech will join the line-up in 2024.
Solo travellers can’t get enough of Exodus Adventure Travels’ Finnish Wilderness Week, and Discover Namibia and Cycle the Back Roads of Sri Lanka are also favourites. Riviera Travel is seeing strong demand for its Japan, South Africa, Classical Spain and Italy holidays to Puglia, Lake Maggiore and Sicily. New tours to India, Jordan, Sri Lanka, Malaysia and Vietnam will combine culture with a beach stay.
G Adventures says destinations including Rwanda, Bhutan, Kenya (including Mt Kilimanjaro climbs), China and Tanzania are already selling well for 2024 as “travellers seize the day and book a trip of a lifetime”.
For a special occasion or bucket-list trip, it doesn’t get much better than a Gorilla Naming Ceremony in Rwanda. “Each September the Kwita Izina ceremony names a newborn gorilla, raising awareness of the importance of protecting mountain gorillas in their habitat,” says Intrepid Travel’s McGuire. “It’s very popular and once it’s gone, it’s gone.”
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