Top travel trends in 2025: bleisure, microcations, and more

Tiny little three or four day weekend trips or microcations are becoming all the rage this summer

But what if you have a little more time to spare? I'm picturing, don't tell me, um, beach cocktails

Florida? Look, it was a business trip. I mean, it is a kind of business

Bleisure, the blend of business and leisure travel, is having a moment

Forbes reports it's now a $600 billion industry and growing. Travel platform Rootspring estimates 60% of work trips are now being extended just for fun

This is even better, right, because your company's paying for it. So, you know, maybe your company's paying for two nights and you're just picking up one extra night for a hotel

Sure, there's the trend of maximizing time off, but what about stretching your wallet

Clint Henderson from the Points Guide gives some money-saving tips, but let's start with how you get to those destinations

If you're not flying, you might be driving. Well, maybe not like this

While there are pros and cons of driving versus flying for your trip, AAA Club Alliance says one of the benefits of driving is flexibility and having the option to travel together and split costs

When you are flying, credit cards could be your best friend. And I realized that, wow, if I just get my finances in order, I can open credit cards, get big sign-up bonuses, and then I can book those flights for free or those hotels for free

But there is a caveat. Henderson says if you're or late fees, this strat

might backfire while cred save you money on flights and hotels Most card issuers profit from interest Customers who never carry a balance may not be as valuable and in rare cases cards can be closed

for customers who consistently pay off those balances. And while some travelers chase points

or perks, many are focused on something else, experience. Experiences has become such a trend

over having the five-star hotel necessarily or even flying first class. Henderson says he's noticing younger generations prioritize experiences

MasterCard says nearly 12% of tourism spending now goes to culture, adventures, and local experiences

And when it comes to experience-driven travel, travel influencer Georgia Folk says chasing the Insta-worthy photo isn't the vibe

Right now, it's about to be summer and everybody's obsessed with like European summer

I thought I was going to go to all these picture spots and it was going to be great, but it was crowded

It was over flooded. It was just not enjoyable. And now whenever I intend to do another like Europe summer, I will not go to the more popular

places that people might want. Instead, now Georgia says she wants to travel with purpose

For example, like I want to go to Uganda to go gorilla trekking, right? Like that is a very intentional trip

I'm going for a purpose of adventure to go with the gorillas

But even beyond the passport stamps, Georgia says her biggest takeaway from traveling was about perspective

I feel like people, especially in America at least, were always craving and desiring the next thing, wanting more

or feeling like we need to get to the next goal in life and all these things. And the people in Tanzania, they're just so happy with where they are, what they're doing

They don't really think like that. With Straight Arrow News, I'm Kennedy Felton

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