It’s been well over year since the first reports calling time on revenge travel began to emerge, predicting that travel patterns would return to the mean as people finally got the aftermath of the pandemic restrictions out of their systems.

Yet 2024 was another bumper year for travel, with many popular destinations seeing record visitor numbers.

Little wonder then that Emirates Airlines President Sir Tim Clark sounded a little put out recently when Sky News Australia Business Editor Ross Greenwood quizzed him over the potential for travel demand to start tailing off in 2025 after some bumper post-pandemic years. Clark was having none of it, claiming instead that international long-haul and medium-long-haul flight demand will instead exceed pre-Covid numbers this year.

“Everybody says revenge travel is over, that we're not going to see. On the contrary, I've never seen anything as strong,” he told the broadcaster.

The reality, it would seem, is that the momentum behind revenge travel is in the eye of the beholder. Once people could start to travel after 12 months or more of a global vacationing and business travel moratorium, Western nationalities especially indulged themselves, often buoyed by savings levels that had risen far above traditional norms.

In the US, that peaked at total savings of around $21.1 trillion in August 2021, the equivalent of $8,000 per person, and American consumers have been busy spending those pots of money ever since, especially given a lengthy period of strong employment numbers nationally.

But inflation, economic uncertainty in part fuelled by the new raft of will-they-won’t-they US tariffs, plus lengthy and ongoing cost of living squeezes have made many Western populations more cautious going into 2025.

Expectations move on from revenge travel

And a recent Skyscanners Partners’ survey on travel expectations for the 12 months ahead revealed a sharp divergence between plans for people from different parts of the world. In all, 70% of travellers worldwide are planning to spend more or the same on flights in 2025 compared with 2024 and half or more travellers from India, the UAE , Saudi Arabia and Brazil are planning to increase their travel budgets.

By contrast, travellers from APAC countries like South Korea, Singapore and Australia indicated more moderate spending plans, and Europeans and Americans are budgeting for smaller increases in travel spend, with a desire to maintain their current outgoings.

It was a near identical picture for accommodation spending plans, with Europeans and North Americans again looking to be more cautious – and with a significant proportion planning to either maintain or decrease their accommodation spend, or to stay more locally.

That may also perhaps explain why serviced apartments and aparthotels are expected to perform particularly strongly in 2025, especially in key gateway cities, driven by their appeal to travellers seeking extended stays and flexibility, plus the ability to do some self-catering to help manage costs. That has fuelled invstment and UK capital London is set to become Europe’s largest serviced apartment market by 2028, with supply projected to increase by 21%, according to advisor Savills.

“Investor confidence is evident in acquisitions such as Ando Living’s purchase of City Apartments, along with other strategic deals in prime locations. Undersupplied markets experiencing rising international arrivals indicate significant growth potential for the sub-sector,” says Savills UK and Pan-European Director, Hotel Capital Markets, Richard Dawes.

Revenge travel and over-tourism

What is more, there are some indications that some travellers have taken note over the protests in a number of European tourist hotspots last year about so-called over-tourism and are looking for quieter alternatives to spend breaks or holidays, away from major cities.

“Revenge travel is now a thing of the past. Rather than travelling at any cost, consumers are slowing down and travelling more meaningfully, even if that means they travel less often. Slow travel is being weaved into more mass travel options, empowering consumers to travel better,” according to Euromonitor International Client Insight Research Manager Stephen Dutton, who points to changing priorities.

“The bottom line is that consumers are spending more when they travel, even if that means they travel less often,” he says.

Similarly, Priceline in its report into travel trends for US travellers has predicted that the desire to travel has not diminished, but speculated that while recent years have been primarily about revenge travel, 2025 will see a shift to what it calls a new era of intentional travel. The company believes that younger travellers especially will seek more meaningful journeys that “foster connections and align with their passions”, all while continuing to leverage smart savings strategies to enable them to afford their travel plans.

"In 2025, we're seeing a new breed of cost-conscious travellers who refuse to compromise on the quality of their experience, and instead are finding creative ways to maximise their travel investments," says Priceline SVP, Strategy and Brand Marketing Lesley Klein. "Our data shows a trend toward domestic [US] exploration and smaller-town destinations, which goes beyond savings to include seeking authentic connections and feeling like a local wherever they go."

China and revenge travel

Indeed, this desire for localisation and smaller scale does appear to be a globally resonant trend. And it is perhaps behind what is probably the greatest surprise in terms of returning traveller behaviour, as the Chinese population has shifted its own leisure priorities post-pandemic.

The huge influx of Chinese travellers returning to global travel after some of the lengthiest and strictest lockdowns globally has looked quite different in profile from before the pandemic. While the Chinese outbound market remains a fast-growing market – from an admittedly very low base after the lockdowns – more Chinese travellers are booking trips independently of traditional large tour groups, and opting for destinations that are quick to get to and easy to enter.

As a result, many are choosing visa-free travel to nearby locations such as Malaysia and Singapore, while longer haul trips are becoming more personalised and diverse, moving beyond the iconic major cities to take in everything from outdoor pursuits to major sports events.

As a result, 2025 might really be the year that traveller behaviour loses its revenge tag, as visitors from around the world look for new ways to interact with where they travel and meaning the hotel market will need to be agile to cope with quickening trends.