The Biggest Travel Trends For 2027

What’s the trend?
AI can plan your itinerary, translate the menu and explain almost anything you come across. What it can’t do is introduce you to the people who make somewhere worth visiting. Increasingly, travellers want to understand a destination through the folk who live there, learn from them and take part in local life. And ask what their visits contribute in return.

The Mandarin Oriental experience
At dawn in Japan’s Dewa Sanzan mountains, a conch shell echoes through the trees. A Yamabushi priest, a follower of an ancient tradition that holds mountains sacred, leads travellers through cedar forests in white robes and split-toe shoes. They’re here to learn through silent walks, meditation and prayer.

The five-day journey begins at Mandarin Oriental, Tokyo. It’s part of Mandarin Oriental Exclusive Journeys, a partnership with The Luminaire, founded to make intellectual travel cool. The itineraries draw on local knowledge and a network of experts who explain places through the lives they lead.

In Oman, desert guides lead travellers into the Sharqiya Sands. In Kagoshima, they can immerse themselves in the ways of the Samuri. There are watchmaking lessons in Geneva and behind-the-scenes visits to art preservation specialists at Factum Arte in Madrid.

What’s the trend?
Seventeen original Orient Express carriages were found abandoned near the Polish border. Now they’re being restored to carry passengers once again. It’s a wonderful symbol of the appetite for travel with history behind it. The appeal isn’t simply old-fashioned glamour, but the extraordinary people who’ve passed through these places and the stories they’ve left behind.

The Mandarin Oriental experience
Mandarin Oriental is preparing to take over three of Egypt’s most storied hotels: Shepheard in Cairo, the Winter Palace in Luxor and the Old Cataract in Aswan. Between them, they’ve hosted royalty, writers and archaeologists and witnessed remarkable moments in Egyptian history.

The Winter Palace is associated with Howard Carter and the discovery of Tutankhamun’s tomb, while Agatha Christie wrote part of Death on the Nile at the Old Cataract. All three are being restored, with a Mandarin Oriental Nile cruise between Luxor and Aswan also in development.

What’s the trend?
Three generations, one holiday. What could go wrong? Welcome to the Gen-XYZ-pedition, where grandparents, parents and children are swapping familiar resorts for wilderness adventures. Multigenerational travel isn’t new, but families are becoming more ambitious. Forget the assumption that grandparents want a sun-lounger while the grandchildren want adventure. Why shouldn’t everyone head into the rainforest together?

The Mandarin Oriental experience
At 6am in Malaysia’s Panti Forest Reserve, the search is on for white-handed gibbons. A naturalist leads an expedition from Mandarin Oriental, Desaru Coast into the rainforest, home to dusky leaf monkeys, hornbills and crested-serpent eagles. The five-hour adventure, for children aged nine and over, ends with a tropical picnic. Younger children can investigate local wildlife through the resort’s Nature Detectives programme.

What’s the trend?
Retirement used to mean slowing down. Nobody seems to have told today’s seventy-somethings. From mountain trekking to scuba diving, they’re making the most of their freedom to go further, stay longer and try something new.

The Mandarin Oriental experience
There are quieter ways to celebrate your 80th birthday than climbing aboard a helicopter bound for the Andes. But where’s the fun in that? From Mandarin Oriental, Santiago, a private flight over Cajón del Maipo takes you to Laguna Negra, a mountain lake 3,000m above sea level, for spectacular views and perhaps a glass of Champagne. Back on the ground, there’s skiing, hiking and white-water rafting in the Andes, while Santiago’s traffic-free Sunday mornings are perfect for exploring by bicycle, courtesy of the hotel.