The Hottest Travel Trends That Will Surprise You

21.02.2024 - 22:41 / forbes.com / Taylor Swift

This year more folks are prioritizing travel and newfangled experiences. We’re inspired by beloved television shows à la Emily in Paris to reexamine cities we’ve previously visited. Scoring tickets to see our favorite musical artists, like Taylor Swift, fortuitously opens up the prospect of flying to a different country. A rising wellness and longevity movement encourages travelers to seek alcohol-free vacations. Slower and more intentional travel—quality over quantity—is important and sustainability and eco-minded experiences are at the forefront.

From Menopause Retreats to Destination Dupes to Astro Tourism, here are the hottest travel trends for 2024, some of which will surely surprise you and motivate you to engage in a new adventure this year.

It’s going to be a banner year for the travel industry as more people are not only taking advantage of vacation days and time off from work, but also, delving deep into digital nomad status. If you can work from anywhere that has a great internet connection, why not do your job, and check off some bucket list adventures while you’re at it? Digital nomadism is an opportunity to build experience equity, especially if you’re living and working in a country that has a lower cost of living.

Where to Go: From Tokyo to Kyoto to Osaka to Sapporo to Hakone, Japan has plenty of locales worthy of a visit. Japan’s Immigration Services Agency is set to issue a digital nomad visa, which will be available for nationals in 49 countries, including the United States. This new visa allows visitors to stay in the country, living and working remotely, for up to six months—doubling the amount of time you can stay from the previous visa. Of course, eligibility requirements apply—you’ll have to have proof of substantial income and health insurance, for example.

If you’re a Taylor Swift fan, then you’re well aware of this new travel trend that has ignited the travel industry. Since tickets to The Eras Tour in the United States were particularly difficult to get, music lovers decided to go abroad to see their favorite artist perform, creating the Gig Tripping trend.

Where to Go: Australia, Singapore, United Kingdom, Ireland, France, Sweden, Austria, Italy, Switzerland, Germany, Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, Poland, Canada—it’s a choose your own adventure type of experience that you can plan a whole vacation around.

Seeing the night sky, full of star clusters, planets, and the moon, is one of top travel experiences you can enjoy if you’re a nature lover. You won’t regret travel to a remote location without light pollution, where on a clear night you can see a stellar sparkling display, made sharper with the aid of binoculars or a telescope.

Where to Go: Swedish Lapland in