Where is the world travelling in 2025?
Travel demand trends for 2025 revealed: Insights suggest it will the year of full recovery for New Zealand, Australia & Polynesia
For 2025 first half, Southeast and Southern Asia, as well as key spots in Africa and The Americas, are the trending destinations for world’s international demand, according to Mabrian’s latest analysis.
Insights also suggest that 2025 will the year of Oceania’s full recovery, particularly for Australia, New Zealand, and Polynesia, and a positive year for key cities in The Americas, as well as some for Sub-Saharan Africa, driven by South Africa and top island destinations.
Mabrian’s findings reflect the inspirational travel demand data based on Mabrian’s Share of Searches Index*, that indicates the degree of market interest in given destinations based on flight searches behaviour, and independently of confirmed bookings. For this analysis, Share of Searches Index tracked world flight searches to the top 20 airports in each region, focusing exclusively on international demand for trips between January and June 2025. The analysis, covering 72.5 percent of global travel demand, weighs inspirational demand interannual growth with overall flight searches quota corresponding to world regions and destinations to provide a more accurate forecast.
Asian destinations in the South, Southeast, and Eastern are set to experience the highest growth in the first half of 2025. Southeast Asia, featuring coveted destinations such as the Philippines, Indonesia, Thailand, Singapore, and Vietnam, represent 13.5 percent of international inspirational demand in the semester analysed; meanwhile, Eastern Asia, including Japan, South Korea, and China, is equivalent to 12.6 percent. The neighbour region of Southern Asia, home to renowned destinations like India, the Maldives, Nepal, and Sri Lanka, accounts for 6.5 percent.
“Asian regions show a powerful search trend for the first half of this year, stronger than other regions around the world, which anticipates robust arrivals figures for the coming months,” says Carlos Cendra, Partner and Director of Marketing and Communications at Mabrian.
Considering flight searches volume and interannual growth, the destinations that see a stronger surge in world’s inspirational demand in the first six months of 2025 are precisely located in Southern and Southeast Asia: Thailand’s Bangkok and Phuket (ranking first and third, respectively); Delhi (5th) and Mumbai (10th) in India; Manila in The Philippines (9th); the Indonesian island of Bali (7th); and Hanoi in Vietnam (11th). Sri Lanka’s Colombo and to The Maldives (12 and 13, respectively) are also showing a strong growth trend for the period analysed. Two Eastern Asia destinations also stand out, too: Tokyo (second top growing destination), showing a very robust demand trend, along with South Korea’s Seoul (6th).
2025: The Oceania’s big comeback
Mabrian’s analysis indicates that the first half of 2025 will mark a significant milestone for Oceania in terms of potential international arrivals throughout the year, with inspirational demand for the region rising to over 3 percent of the global total.
The outlook is particularly positive for New Zealand and Australia, ranking third among the fastest-growing regions in terms of global search share.
According to Mabrian’s expert, the Search of Searches Index performance among these key regional destinations “is signalling a positive outlook for Oceania, that have been in the path to post-pandemic recovery for the last two years”.
The rise in international inspirational demand for Auckland (New Zealand) and Australia’s Sydney, Melbourne, and Brisbane is remarkable, compared to last year’s same semester.
The results of The Americas’ Share of Searches Index for the first semester of 2025 also indicate a positive demand trend for key destinations across the continent. North America ranks fifth among the fastest-growing regions in terms of international inspirational demand, accounting for 5.6 percent of the global total, while Latin America and the Caribbean capture 2.5 percent of international inspirational demand during the period studied.
When focusing on specific destinations, North American Los Angeles, Miami, and Orlando (United States) are among world’s most demanded destinations and also experience increasing international interest to travel during 2025’s first half. In the case of Latin America and The Caribbean growth is not even throughout this region, but is powered by the particularly strong demand to five destinations: Mexico’s Cancun, Buenos Aires in Argentina, Brazil’s Rio de Janeiro, Punta Cana in Dominican Republic, and San Jose in Costa Rica.
Sub-Saharan Africa and Southern Europe: Trends to watch
When compared to the first half of 2024, Sub-Saharan Africa also experiences a demand surge driven mainly by destinations in South Africa, particularly Cape Town or Johannesburg, along with other iconic African spots, such as the islands of Mauritius, The Seychelles, or Sal (in Cape Verde), or Kilimanjaro in Tanzania.
Some highlights are worth noticing in Europe, that accounts for 17.2 percent of world’s international inspirational demand, even though it is not among the top growing regions. Three urban hotspots are among world’s top growing destinations: Madrid (Spain) and Lisbon (Portugal), as well as Rome, set to rise arrivals as the year progresses considering Italy’s capital is the hosting city of 2025 Jubilee Year.
* Mabrian’s Share of Searches Index is proprietary index that reflects the strength of travel demand based on flight searches behaviour. Given a source market and a period of time, the Share of Searches Index is a percentage that correlates the total flight searches globally with spontaneous searches for specific destinations. Unlike confirmed bookings, this ratio shows the degree of market interest in certain destinations, and whether reservations are confirmed depends on many factors, from available connectivity, flight and accommodation prices, or other phenomena that may influence travellers’ willingness to purchase or spend. For further details, visit the blog HERE
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