People are exhausted by holiday FOMO. You’ve seen it: the frantic bucket list ticking and the itineraries crammed so full nobody has time to breathe. Travel became about performance instead of rest.
That trend is shifting, though. Travellers are asking a different question. Instead of “where should I go?” they’re wondering “why am I going?” This shift is subtle, but it’s changing what people want from their time away.
When familiar feels better than exotic
You walk into a hotel room or cafe after a long flight. You’re jet-lagged, a bit cranky. What makes you relax? It may be a decent coffee or a familiar menu you can actually read without pulling out a translation app.
80% of travellers say they appreciate familiar menu items when they’re travelling. Eighty per cent seems high until you remember what it’s like to be tired and trying to decode a menu in a language you barely understand.
Almost half of all travellers now cook their own meals while on holiday. Not because they’re trying to save money (though that doesn’t hurt). Cooking your own scrambled eggs in a rental Airbnb gives you one predictable moment in your day. When everything else feels uncertain, that routine becomes somewhat comforting.
The hotels doing well right now aren’t necessarily the flashiest ones. They’re the ones delivering consistent, reliable experiences. Knowing exactly what you’re getting reduces decision fatigue. After years of chasing novelty, predictability has become valuable in a way it wasn’t before.
There’s even a term floating around the industry now: “hushpitality.” Hotels are marketing silence and peace as actual features. Quiet has become something people actively seek out and pay for.
Grabbing the wheel (literally and figuratively)
Road trips are also making a comeback, and the reason isn’t complicated. When you’re driving, you decide when to stop. You choose where to eat. You can take that random detour to see the world’s largest pineapple if the mood strikes. You’re not stuck following a tour guide’s schedule or dealing with flight delays.
But control is more than just the physical journey. Travellers want more say in every aspect of their trips. They’re done feeling like passive tourists being herded from one attraction to the next.
As good as this sounds, road tripping does mean you’re on your phone constantly. Navigation. Finding accommodation. Checking in with people back home. Most of that happens over whatever Wi-Fi you can find at petrol stations or campgrounds, and public networks can be sketchy. If you want to have some control over your digital safety, tools like NordVPN are free to download. Then again, the best control might come from planning ahead and getting a fairly cheap roaming plan.
Connection without the pressure
But wanting control doesn’t mean people want to travel alone. More families want focused time together when they’re on holiday, where kids aren’t glued to screens every waking moment. Beach houses work. So do national parks. Anywhere that makes it easier to just be together without all the usual digital distractions.
The travel industry calls this mindset “whycations.” The purpose drives the destination, not the other way around.
Someone might choose a quiet mountain cabin because they desperately need silence after a chaotic year at work. Another person might pick a destination near extended family because reconnecting matters more than seeing something new. Both are completely valid approaches. Both reflect a more thoughtful way to travel.
And connection doesn’t always mean being surrounded by people. Sometimes it’s about reconnecting with yourself. Finding enough space and quiet that your mind can actually wander instead of defaulting to endless scrolling.
The emotional reasons behind travel decisions look different now. People want experiences that restore rather than deplete them. They want trips that align with their own values instead of someone else’s idea of what makes a “proper” holiday.
The new way to plan holidays
You don’t need to feel bad about choosing the safe option. Picking the hotel chain you’ve stayed at before instead of that boutique place with the artsy website? That’s not boring. That’s smart.
Your idea of a perfect holiday can involve doing nothing. You’re not missing out if your version of a great trip is reading by the pool and taking afternoon naps.
What we’re seeing in these trends reveals something important about where people are mentally right now. We’re exhausted. Overstimulated. We need travel to actually restore us instead of adding to the stress.
Comfort isn’t about thread count or fancy amenities. Comfort means feeling at ease. Connection isn’t forced small talk with strangers at hostels. Connection is quality time with people who matter to you, or quiet time with yourself.
Travel in 2026 looks like it will slow down on purpose. Choosing rest over the fear of missing out. Finding meaning in ordinary moments. After years of treating every trip like it needs to be extraordinary, this approach feels refreshing. Maybe even a bit radical.
