British Airways Holidays presents the Travel Trends Report 2025, identifying the most sought-after holiday destinations for January 2025. Among the eight destinations, Crete is ranked third and Kos seventh.
British Airways Holidays launches its 2025 Travel Trends Report by unveiling the report’s ‘Hotlist’, which showcases the most popular destinations from most searches in January. These destinations total eight and the Greek islands of Crete and Kos take a key position with growth of 44% and 16% respectively.
Based on the Travel Trends Report 2025, the conclusions are as follows:
- It is a fact that 41% of UK adults choose destinations from social media to try a particular restaurant or type of food abroad. However, regarding people aged 55 and over, interestingly 1 in 5 say they feel inspired too.
- 71% of UK adults aged 18-24 and 68% of 25-34 year olds choose a destination based on the ability to incorporate their hobbies/interests into their holiday. While only 31% of those aged 55 and over do likewise.
- The 90% of UK adults who read more on holiday than at home are more likely to read a full book on holiday compared to normal day-to-day life.
Rising “Stars”
Eight destinations growing in popularity based on holiday package searches during January 2025 are:
- Agadir +308%
- Abu Dhabi +94%
- Crete +44%
- Coh Samui +38%
- Gibraltar +17%
- Nashville +17%
- Kos +16%
- Qatar +16%
The most searched holiday package destinations in the June 2025 sale are:
1. New York
2. Dubai
3. Barbados
4. Cancun
5. Tenerife
6. Orlando
7. Maldives
8. Mauritius
9. St. Lucia
10. Malta
Holidays with a programme
Traditional all-inclusive holidays are making a full-blown comeback, with buffets and organised activities appealing to younger generations who prefer effortless, stress-free getaways at a predetermined price point. According to the customer survey 42% say they “just want food, drink and sleep” when they go on holiday. At the same time, a third (32%) of customers say they like holidays where activities are organised for them.
Travel Plan
Traveling with the family for an annual getaway, gathering parents to care for children on vacation, form “Trip Collectives”. Unlike traditional group travel, where one booking covers everyone, this trend sees individuals, couples or families making separate bookings but coordinating stays at the same hotel or resort at the same time. This growing trend is supported by the January 2025 Coasts/YouGov Plc 2025 survey, which revealed that 71% of adults planning to go on holiday in 2025 are looking to synchronise their holiday dates with friends or family.
Andrew Flintham, Chief Executive of British Airways Holidays, said: “Our third annual report provides a striking insight into how UK consumers are trying to travel. Not only are they looking for new ways to optimise their time away, but there is a clear trend among travellers to embrace traditional holiday elements with the likes of all-inclusive. With 43% of UK adults going on holiday agreeing that the idea of organising all the holiday components made them feel stressed, it’s clear that there is strong demand, now more than ever, for our holiday packages. At British Airways Holidays, it’s at our core to provide our customers with everything they need to make their time away memorable and relieve the stress of planning so they can take their holiday seriously. The insights and findings presented at the report were based on research conducted by Globetrender, the UK’s leading travel trend forecasting organisation.
