Scotland’s top travel trends for 2025

From Celebreaktions and Hobbidays to Biohacking Tech and Outdoor Therapy, VisitScotland has revealed its top travel trends for Scotland for the year ahead.

Drawing on a wide range of sources*, the national tourism organisation’s report highlights the experiences and interests visitors to Scotland will be seeking in 2025 and the opportunities these present for tourism and events businesses.

Grouped into two themes, Passion Travel - experiences related to personal interests or a particular event such as celebrating a special occasion - and Wellness Travel - experiences that enhance physical and mental wellbeing - the eight trends identified as most relevant to Scotland in 2025 are:

Passion Travel:

• Celebreaktions – have continued to increase in popularity following the Covid-19 pandemic. Combining celebrating a special occasion such as a wedding, birthday or university graduation with a holiday, these trips offer a chance for multigenerational groups to come together and extend quality time with quality travel. These visitors are looking for exclusive use accommodation, tailored activities and private dining options.

• Gig Tripping – as seen with Taylor Swift Eras Tour in Edinburgh last year, seeing your favourite musician live can be a once in a lifetime opportunity for fans, leading to people planning travel around concerts or festivals. With Scotland set to host gigs by Oasis, Lana Del Ray and Kylie Minogue in 2025 and offering a strong annual festival line up, these present a huge opportunity for Scottish tourism businesses from maximising early bookings to offering artist-inspired experiences such as guided tours and themed food and drink experiences.

• Hobbidays - hobbies aren't just for 'at home' but increasingly visitors are seeking to combine their favourite pastimes with their travel. These visitors are seeking out bespoke retreats, workshops and up-skilling experiences, opportunities for creative expression or to connect with local groups and communities.

• Set Jetting – visitors continue to be inspired by Scotland’s on-screen presence from Braveheart and Fast & Furious to Outlander and Shetland. And with upcoming releases including Netflix’s The Undertow and Frankenstein both shot in Scotland, this trend looks set to continue. These visitors look for guided tours and opportunities to immerse themselves in the places, history and culture seen on screen or linked to actors.

• Instant Inspo – as highlighted in VisitScotland and wider travel industry research, social media channels such as Instagram and TikTok continue to be an important source of travel information and inspiration. Offering direct access to a global captive audience, opportunities for destinations and businesses include brand and influencer collaborations and partnerships and showcasing local events and experiences especially those ‘off the beaten path’ these visitors crave.

Wellness Travel:

• Sleep Tourism – ‘getting away from it all’ is a key driver for taking a holiday or short break in Scotland and with growing awareness of the importance of sleep to our health and wellbeing, visitors are looking for amenities and activities that promote a good night sleep. From custom temperature and light controls to pillow menus and jet lag wake up calls to yoga and meditation, there is much that Scotland’s unique offering can do to boost restfulness.

• Biohacking Wellness Tech – consumers are increasingly using technology such as sleep trackers, fitness devices and nutrition apps to monitor and optimise their health and wellbeing. Many visitors are looking to continue this approach when they travel from personalised wake up calls and cold-water therapy to trying the latest spa tech treatments.

• Outdoor Therapy – with spending time in nature widely recognised as good for our physical and mental health, visitors are looking for opportunities to reap the benefits of and immerse themselves in Scotland’s great outdoors. From wild saunas and bike hire to outdoor yoga classes and meals under the stars.

Providing trend summaries, data insights and relevance to Scotland, the report also offers practical suggestions for tourism and events businesses on how to leverage these trends. From adapting and creating new experiences to collaborative partnerships, sales and marketing opportunities.

Monitoring and sharing the latest consumer and industry insights is an important part of VisitScotland’s support for businesses, helping them to create products and experiences that appeal to visitors.

Following the Covid-19 pandemic, Scotland has shown strong signs of recovery, with record breaking number of international visitors and spend, outperforming other parts of the UK. However, while international tourism has surpassed pre pandemic levels, the recovery of the domestic market has been impacted by the cost of living. 

Cat Leaver, VisitScotland director of strategy and competitive intelligence, said: “If Scotland wants to continue to be a destination of choice for both international and UK holidaymakers, then it’s important that we keep up to date and understand what our visitors want.

“In recent years, we’ve witnessed a shift towards more experience-led and transformational travel. Our Trends 2025 analysis shows these experiences are constantly evolving with visitors seeking things that nurture personal interests, offer scope for celebration or actively support their health and wellbeing.

“As a destination Scotland is well placed to capitalise on these growing trends and we hope the report’s insights paired with practical suggestions will be a useful resource for tourism and events businesses in the year ahead.

“We will also be using these insights to inform and influence our own activity, creating inspirational content that positions Scotland as a must-visit, year-round destination.”

Richard Lochhead, Scottish Government business minister, said: “This is a valuable insight which will support Scotland’s many creative, entrepreneurial tourism businesses.

“Scotland's expanding and resilient tourism sector makes an important contribution to the economy. We naturally want to see this continue in 2025 and are allocating an additional £2million to VisitScotland to help it promote Scotland as a multi-attraction destination.”

To view/download the report in full please visit https://www.visitscotland.org/research-insights/trends/consumer-trends

*VisitScotland’s Trends 2025 report draws on a range of sources including the Scotland Visitor Survey 2023 and analysis of global travel trends