Women-only trips, slow train travel and a desire to explore lesser-known destinations.
Intrepid Travel, which offers nearly 1,000 small group adventures across all seven continents, has dropped its Five for 2025: Top Travel Trend Predictions for the year ahead. Here’s a look at their top trends for coming new year.
Women-Only Wandering
Intrepid says all-women group trips are booming and that women are boldly venturing into new territories on trips designed with them in mind.
Intrepid’s Women’s Expeditions, all-female tours led by a local female leader created to offer an insight into the daily lives and challenges of women in other countries, grew by 37% in 2024. Intrepid quickly had to add more departures for its newest trip in the Women’s Expedition range to Saudi Arabia after it dropped in April.
The 2025 tours for the new tour are already almost completely booked out at 72% filled, primarily by American solo female travellers (40%).
Women’s-only backcountry trekking adventures are also taking off. Wildland Trekking, acquired by Intrepid and known for premier hiking tours in America’s iconic national parks, has announced 10-new Women’s Adventure trips for 2025, doubling the range to keep up with demand. New tours include a Best of Moab Base Camp Tour, Enchanted Valley backpacking trip and a Wild Alaska Coast and Glacier Trek. 60% of Wildland’s new-hires for 2024 guides were women as a result, reflecting the expanding demand for women-led outdoor adventures and the catalyst Intrepid provides for this movement.
“Women love exploring off-the-beaten-track destinations with other like-minded women,” said Jenny Gray, Senior Product Manager at Intrepid Travel. “82% of women on these trips are joining solo, some for their first time.They are feeling empowered to do this on these all-women trips.”
Not-Hot Destinations
The hunt for the undiscovered and destination dupes will continue as travellers crave cultural immersion over being surrounded by other tourists. Over-tourism hit a breaking point in 2024, becoming a mainstream topic, dominating headlines and leading to frustrations for both tourists and locals alike and leading over 70% of Americans to seek out destination ‘dupes’ this summer to try and avoid the crowds.
Travellers are looking for ways to side-step the crowds and explore beyond the regular tourist routes, opting for off-season travel and lesser-known destinations.
Intrepid is introducing even more trips for 2025 in alternative regions of popular countries and emerging destinations. Airlines are also responding to this consumer appetite with United Airlines just this week announcing its largest-ever international route expansion for summer 2025, including brand new routes between the to lesser-visited destinations like Mongolia, Greenland, and Senegal, all three of which places Intrepid has is launching new tours in for 2025.
As of next June, Americans will now have access to a historic new four-hour flight to the only direct connection between the US and the Greenland capital and will be able to explore the destination away from the tourist track of polar cruise ships on Intrepid’s Greenland Expedition, including a stay on Disko Island, which is surrounded by icebergs and whales. While Iceland drew more than 2 million visitors last year and introduced tourist taxes, Greenland welcomed fewer than 150,000 visitors.
United is also launching a nonstop, year-round flight from Washington DC’s Dulles airport to Senegal, which travellers can explore along with other Western African hidden gems on Intrepid’s new 15-day Benin, Togo & Ghana Adventure.
Friendtrips
Zillenials are increasingly turning to group travel experiences where they can create connections - starting solo and turning strangers into new friends as third spaces disappear.
At the start of 2024, Intrepid increased the age limit of its 18 to 29’s trips to 35 after a rise in enquiries from travellers in their early 30s wanting to join young adult trips. Since upping the age, the 18-35 range nearly doubled in growth (up 46% YOY in 2024), to become Intrepid’s third most popular trip style of the year.
“Younger generations are really embracing group travel right now.” said Matt Berna, President of the Americas at Intrepid Travel. “They’re craving face to face connection in an increasingly digital world where it’s becoming harder to meet friends organically. They’re not afraid to join these trips on their own so they can expand their social circles.”
In 2024, 21-30 year olds also surpassed the largest group of travellers joining trips solo. A number that had been consistently older in years past. In response to the demand, Intrepid is adding five new trips to its 18-35 range for 2025, in six new destinations, including a Spain and Portugal trip, highlights of Scandinavia and 3-new trips within Australia.
Purposeful Parenting
Families are prioritizing connecting and learning from local communities and opportunities for meaningful cultural exchange on trips. Intrepid’s family tours grew another 20% in 2024 globally (+25% for U.S. travellers) on top of a record year for the style in 2023. The tours allow children to form their own friendships with other kids on the trip and give parents a much-deserved rest as their tour leader handles all the planning and logistics.
“Our style of family travel is continuing to trend. The feedback that we heard the most this year was that parents want even more opportunities to support local communities and participate in conservation efforts on trips,” said Berna. “Parents are seeing travel as an opportunity to take their children’s learning beyond the classroom as they prepare them to be responsible, global citizens.”
Intrepid’s family trips are designed to balance relaxation with hands-on experiences. On a popular Croatia trip, the tour includes a “day in the life of a fisherman” boat ride and a night of stargazing with a local astronomer. In 2025, Intrepid is adding more experiences that center on learning about the local environment and community including elephant grass planting in Borneo. Groups will spend the day with a local organization that looks after local wildlife, particularly the population of pygmy elephants.
Back on Track
The rail renaissance continues, with travellers opting to experience destinations at a relaxed pace. After receiving an influx of requests for longer trips, Intrepid has extended more than 50 of its tours by a day for 2025, giving travellers even more free time and flexibility to explore on their own, while also lowering the carbon intensity of trips by reducing the average distance traveled each day.
Extended stays are allowing for a slower travel pace as more immersive experiences rise in favour of fast-paced country hopping and jam-packed sightseeing. More travellers are also considering the environmental impact of their trips, with 87% reporting that they would consider an alternative form of transportation if it reduced their carbon footprint – 31% of which would do so even if it meant taking a longer route.
This growing traveler appetite for a more mindful style of travel led Intrepid to launch a range of trips dedicated to Rail Travel earlier this year. The range includes 40 trips and 3 brand new itineraries for 2025; Trans-Mongolian Railway Adventure, Express to the Orient: Paris to Istanbul, and Paris to Rome by Rail.
“Train travel allows travellers to stretch out their time and the overall experience in a destination. Instead of burning a whole day of their trip stuck in the airport, a rail trip is a chance to take in the countryside and enjoy the journey” Berna said.
