From Rain Travel to Cultural Immersion: Explore Worldwide Reveals 5 Key Travel Trends For 2027
Specialist small group adventure company Explore Worldwide has analysed its latest booking patterns, destination searches and customer behaviour to identify five emerging trends for the year ahead – from looking beyond traditional bucket-list destinations to seeking more meaningful experiences that connect travellers with local people, cultures and wildlife.
The findings come as Explore reaches a milestone of more than 50 Positive Impact Experiences (PIEs) across its global portfolio and launches Made by Humans, a new hub celebrating the people, expertise and first-hand knowledge behind its adventures.
Michael Edwards, Managing Director at Explore Worldwide, said: “We’ve spent more than 40 years watching the evolution of travel, and our latest data gives us some fascinating insights into what 2027 could look like.
“What’s particularly interesting is that we’re seeing a desire for travel that feels more meaningful, whether that’s connecting with local people, having a positive impact on the places we visit, or getting advice from someone who has genuinely been there.
“Technology will continue to change how people research and book holidays, but our research shows that human experience remains incredibly important. We believe the future of travel is about using technology to make things easier, while keeping the human knowledge, connection and experience that turn a holiday into a genuinely memorable adventure.”
Top Five Trends of 2027:
1. Positive-impact travel becomes part of the adventure
In 2027, the experience itself will matter as much as the destination, with travellers increasingly looking to connect with local people, cultures and wildlife while contributing positively to the places they visit.
Explore now offers more than 50 Positive Impact Experiences (PIEs) across its global portfolio, spanning community-led tourism, traditional crafts and conservation initiatives.
For 2027, Explore predicts that these more meaningful encounters will become an increasingly important part of adventure travel – with the people met, stories shared and positive impact made becoming as memorable as the destination itself.
2. Human-led travel in an AI world
As AI becomes increasingly embedded in holiday planning, Explore’s new research suggests travellers still want recommendations from people who have actually been there.
Research of 2,000 UK working adults, conducted by Opinion Matters on behalf of Explore, found that four in five trust recommendations from friends or family who have visited a destination, compared with just 32% who would trust an AI tool.
Local people were trusted by 75%, while 74% trusted travel experts who had personally visited a destination and 72% trusted local travel guides.
Overall, 80% favour holiday planning involving human or local expertise, while just 7% are comfortable relying mainly on technology or AI. Yet travellers aren’t rejecting technology: one in five have already used AI tools to research or plan a holiday, while 60% favour combining technology with human or local expertise.
Explore’s own booking data reflects this appetite for human interaction, with 61% of passengers travelling in 2026 having booked by telephone, the highest share since 2023.
For Explore, the future is not technology versus human expertise, but the two working together, from expert itinerary design to the local knowledge and judgement of tour leaders on the ground.
3. Rain tourism: travellers embrace the green season
Forget chasing endless sunshine. Explore predicts that 2027 will see more travellers embracing destinations during their greener, wetter seasons, with rain tourism – or pluviophile travel – offering a new way to experience some of the world’s great rainforests.
Costa Rica and Borneo are particularly suited to the trend, with their green seasons offering lush landscapes, thriving ecosystems and a different perspective on the traditional peak-season holiday.
The interest is already evident in Explore’s data, with Borneo trip views up 189% and bookings up 70% year-on-year – the strongest destination uplift in its latest trip-view analysis.
Rather than seeing rain as something to avoid, travellers are beginning to see changing seasons as part of the experience. In many cases, visiting during the wetter months also means travelling in the off-season, with fewer tourists and a positive impact on the local economy by supporting communities outside peak periods.
4. The travel map gets redrawn
The traditional adventure bucket list is making room for a new generation of destinations, as travellers look further afield from established hotspots.
Explore has seen particularly strong momentum across North Africa, Central Asia, South America and the Balkans.
North Africa is up 9% year-on-year, with Egypt specifically up by 52%. Central Asia is rapidly growing in popularity, with bookings to Kazakhstan (+63%), Uzbekistan, (110%) Kyrgyzstan (+60%) all up despite the impacts of the Iran war which experts predict will roll into 2027.
South American is also up by 19%, with the multi-country Bolivia, Argentina and Chile adventure seeing an uplift of 59%.
Meanwhile, Europe’s Balkans region recorded 21% weighted growth in trip views, with Bosnia and Herzegovina and Montenegro showing particularly strong increases.
The trend is also visible in the Americas, where Colombia’s trip views increased 97% and Honduras saw trip views rise 38%, alongside 39% growth in bookings.
For 2027, Explore expects travellers to increasingly seek destinations that offer a stronger sense of discovery – places where the journey feels as important as the destination itself.
5. Solo travel gets more adventurous – without sacrificing comfort
Solo travel continues to evolve, with travellers choosing small group adventures to combine independence with the reassurance, expertise and social connection of travelling with others.
Explore has seen highest demand for solo passengers in Italy, Spain, Portugal, Turkey, and Albania.
Meanwhile, there has been particularly strong growth across destinations North Africa, Central Asia and The Balkans, with Algeria seeing the largest growth for solo passengers, up 133% YoY.
Search behaviour tells a similar story. Across the UK, US, Canada, Australia and New Zealand, Japan, Thailand, Italy, Vietnam and Costa Rica were the five most-searched destinations for solo travel between January and July 2026.
China saw the largest absolute increase in solo travel searches, up 48.6%, which is reflected in Explore’s own passenger numbers, which are up 133% for solo travellers.
To read the full report, including expert testimony from the Explore team, visit: www.explore.co.uk/travel-trends-2027
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