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10 insights that should be on your radar in 2025
Global growth continues at a strong pace. 2024 global gross travel bookings grew to $1.61 trillion (projected), reflecting strong demand in the travel sector despite some economic headwinds. This growth marks a healthy expansion of the market as travel continues to advance.
2024 marked a year of strong market performance in APAC and steady gains in North America and Europe according to Phocuswright’s recent research report Travel Forward: Data, Insights and Trends for 2025, a resource (available to everyone) which provides broadscale insights into the $1.61 trillion global travel market, offering essential data for understanding industry trends and growth.
The Middle East and LATAM continue to emerge as significant markets, albeit much smaller than the three regional powerhouses. A consistent rise in digital bookings across regions highlights a growing consumer preference for online travel services. This continuing shift toward digital platforms is encouraging travel providers to improve their online booking experiences to remain competitive.
Looking ahead, here are 10 key insights from Phocuswright’s report that should be on your radar in 2025:
- 1. Phocuswright projects that the global travel market will continue to grow through 2026, with annual gains ranging between 6-9%. Online bookings will advance more rapidly, with annual gains from 8-12%.
- 2. Global gross bookings are expected to increase from $1.6 trillion in 2024 to $1.72 trillion in 2025, marking a steady, but slower growth rate as the market matures.
© Phocuswright
© Phocuswright
- 3. Online gross bookings are estimated to reach $1.0 trillion in 2024 and climb to $1.2 trillion by 2026. By that time, nearly 65% of global travel gross bookings will be made online. In Europe, 66% of bookings are made online.
- 4. With increasing capacity and declining airfares, airline revenue growth is projected to slow to 10% in 2024 and drop to single-digit growth in subsequent years.
- 5. Global online gross bookings for hotels are projected to account for 55% of the market in 2024 and increase to 58% by 2026. Specfically in Europe, 32% of hotels are booked via OTAs, and 46% offline.
- 6. North America remains the largest contributor to gross bookings among regions, growing from $543.8 billion in 2024 to $568.5 billion in 2025. This growth is consistent but indicates a slowing pace as the region approaches maturity in online travel.
© Phocuswright
- 7. In 2025, the U.K. is expected to overtake France in gross bookings, reclaiming a spot among the top five markets for the first time since the COVID-19 pandemic.
- 8. Travelers feel more confident about booking lodging in the next 12 months but are less sure about their transportation plans. The issue of cost and discretionary spending may have them cautious about spend in the future.
- 9. Most European travelers expect to engage in leisure travel in the next year, with more planning international trips (either inside or outside of Europe) than domestic trips. British travelers are the most likely to be planning to travel outside of Europe.
- 10. In 2024, 65% of travelers who used GenAI did so for ideas on where to go, and 41-50% used it to get ideas about things to do and actively compare and make travel choices. 50% of travelers expect to utilize GenAI for leisure travel in the next 12 months.
Bonus: Germany, France, the U.K. and Spain all cracked the top 10 global markets for gross bookings in 2024. That’s more representation than any other region.
Discover the rest of the critical insights and data to understand trends and growth in 2025 here. Available for everyone.
For more in-depth analysis and data including longer-term predictions, become an Open Access subscriber to use our Phocal Point market sizing data tool and to access all reports in the Phocuswright Research library.
By: Phocuswright