Asia and Europe dominate plans for both business and leisure travel in 2025, with relaxation and rest surpassing exploring new destinations as the top travel motivation. Meanwhile, recommendations from friends and family remain the main ‘source’ of travel inspiration and loyalty platforms continue to be the top ‘tool’ for finding and booking hotels, as revealed by the Global Hotel Alliance (GHA), showcasing the top destinations and travel motivations of GHA Discovery members for 2025.
According to the largest global alliance of independent hotel companies, for the second year in a row, Japan and Thailand ranked as the most popular holiday destinations, while China ranked third, overtaking Spain. Australia, New Zealand and Italy tie for fourth place, displacing the 2024 “favourites” Canada and Hawaii.
Leisure travel continues to dominate, with 99% of members surveyed planning a leisure holiday in 2025, while business travel is recovering, as shown by 62% planning business trips, with China, Germany and Spain-based travellers leading the recovery.
More than 93% of members expect to travel internationally for leisure in the coming year and 69% for business, with business travel mainly within the region of residence, while leisure travel is expanding further, with Europe and Asia being the preferred regions for all source markets.
Travellers plan to make an average of six leisure trips (similar to 2024) and more than five overnight business trips in 2025 (up 13% year-on-year).
Chinese travellers are set to take the most business trips (7 trips on average), followed by Germans (6 trips) and Spaniards (5). For leisure, China again dominates, with members based in this market planning the most trips (7), followed by Thais and travellers from the UAE, with 6 trips planned.
The interest of travellers by region
Asia: for business travel, 93% of GHA Discovery members in Singapore plan international travel. Members in China and Australia focus on domestic business travel, while Australians also aim to visit Oceania and Indians the Middle East for business.
In terms of leisure travel, they show a similar pattern, with 75% of members in Singapore planning a holiday abroad, while Indians show a preference for the Middle East. Japan is the top holiday destination for members in China, Australia, Thailand and Singapore, while those based in Japan prefer Thailand and Indians are interested in Europe.
Europe: Travellers from Spain, Germany and the UK prefer Thailand and Japan as holiday destinations for the third consecutive year. Renewed interest in Dubai, New York and the Caribbean replaced last year’s choices of Spain and Italy.
Interest in business travel to Europe will remain at the top, with Asia, North America and, to a lesser extent, the Middle East following.
North America: GHA Discovery members from the US are planning holidays at home, as well as in Europe and the Caribbean, with familiar destinations such as Hawaii, Spain and Italy remaining popular. While Japan is still on the list, its attractiveness has declined slightly from 2023.
In terms of business travel, travel within North America will dominate in 2025.
Middle East and North Africa: For UAE-based members, Thailand overtook Japan as the top holiday destination and Vietnam emerged as one of the destinations attracting attention in 2025. Intra-regional holidays within the Middle East are also expected to remain popular.
On the business travel side, international travel looks set to significantly outweigh domestic travel next year.
Motivation, inspirations and preferences
Relaxation as a reference point: Relaxation and rest is the top reason for travel in 2025, with 72% of GHA Discovery members making it a priority. This surpasses last year’s interest in exploring new destinations and cultures, which now ranks second with 62%, followed by escaping the daily grind in third place (46%).
Family and food breaks, as well as urban and cultural activities, remain popular, with most members planning to travel with a spouse or partner, reflecting trends for 2024.
Combining the old with the new: Members seek to balance new destinations with the reintroduction of old favorites. Those from India, China and Spain are more willing to travel to new destinations, while members from Germany, Singapore and the United Arab Emirates prefer a mix.
According to last year’s preferences, travel to cities and beach/tropical destinations dominate, more than mountains and countryside.
Inspired by friends and family: 43% of members rely on recommendations from friends and family, either through word of mouth or social media, for their travels, following the trend in 2024. Travel magazines continue to influence 20% of members, maintaining their importance.
Loyalty platforms are leading the way: Websites, apps and social loyalty program pages are now the top choice for researching and booking travel across all regions, continuing the upward trend seen in 2023 and 2024.
More than a third (35%) of members turn to these platforms to search for hotels, while a staggering 50% of travellers from China, India and the UAE prefer to book through hotel loyalty programme websites or apps.
Online travel agency (OTA) websites remain the second most popular ‘source’ of research, echoing last year’s patterns.
When choosing where to stay, travellers prioritise the quality of the accommodation, the benefits of loyalty schemes and the location or neighbourhood of the accommodation, which outweigh the price or brand of the hotel. This order is largely consistent across markets and even across reward tiers.
Upgrades and recognition stand out: Room upgrades, early check-in and late check-out retain their status as top perks for higher loyalty tiers, particularly in Japan (94%) and Germany (84%), while membership rates and discounts remain a priority for lower tier members.
