Booking.com’s 2027 Travel Forecast Finds British Holidaymakers Following Mood, Money and Curiosity

A survey of 2,017 UK travellers points to unusual escapes, fitness-led friendships, frank conversations on hiking trails and new destinations.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

• In Booking.com’s UK survey, 78% would choose a destination for the mood they want, while 74% would use a mood-based destination recommendation tool.
• Money is influencing travel groups: 44% of UK respondents have reconsidered companions over spending differences and 48% report budget-related tension on trips.
• Experience-led holidays feature prominently, with 68% of UK respondents interested in paranormal travel and 51% willing to take a trip to help address relationship disagreements.
• The company names ten destinations to watch for 2027, including Reims, Sendai, Bratislava and Pescara; survey interest is not a forecast of confirmed bookings.

Choosing a holiday by how it should feel, rather than by where it should be, is moving from an abstract idea towards a practical travel preference. In its latest look at 2027, Booking.com finds British travellers considering everything from unexpected adventures and paranormal encounters to trips designed to start difficult conversations. For travel businesses, the findings point to a guest who may be less interested in a standard itinerary than in an experience shaped around personal circumstances.

The UK findings, released on 19 October 2026, form part of Booking.com’s 11th annual Travel Predictions research. The international programme surveyed 28,230 prospective travellers across 32 markets, including 2,017 in the United Kingdom. The figures describe reported attitudes and intentions rather than holidays already booked.

Where travellers go increasingly depends on how they want to feel

In the UK sample, 78% said they would choose a destination primarily for the mood they hoped to create, while 74% expressed interest in a search tool that recommends places based on their feelings. The difference between generations is particularly marked: 75% of Gen Z respondents would share information from a phone or wearable device with a travel provider for a more personalised trip, compared with 24% of baby boomers.

These preferences raise a practical question for accommodation providers and travel platforms. Conventional search filters such as price, dates and location may still matter, but travellers are also signalling interest in journeys organised around rest, excitement, discovery or connection. Any use of personal device data to meet that demand would need to be accompanied by clear choices about what information guests share.

Novelty is another part of the picture. Nearly three quarters of UK respondents (73%) expressed interest in a holiday specifically to do something out of character. More than a third (38%) wanted to surprise friends and family with their choices, and 28% said they had previously withheld or deleted travel posts because a trip felt too ordinary or predictable.

For some, the unusual extends beyond conventional sightseeing. Booking.com found that 68% of British respondents were interested in paranormal travel, encompassing activities such as ghost hunts and visits to supposedly haunted sites. Nearly half (49%) would seek an experience in the hope of making contact with someone on the “other side”, while 51% were interested in experiences exploring death, the afterlife or spirituality. These are expressions of curiosity, not evidence of supernatural phenomena.

Money can determine the travel party as well as the destination

The research also places financial compatibility at the centre of group travel. Among UK travellers surveyed, 44% had reconsidered whom to invite because of different spending expectations, while 48% reported tension or disagreements during a holiday over money. Almost a third (32%) said they had removed someone from a travel group because of those differences.

Parents were not immune to that calculation: 66% said they were keen to take a child-free holiday so they could spend more on themselves. For organisers, hotels and booking platforms, the commercial implication is less about persuading guests to spend uniformly and more about making costs, optional extras and individual choices easier to understand before a group commits.

Booking.com’s global results provide a useful comparison without being interchangeable with the UK sample. Worldwide, 50% said they had reconsidered travel companions over spending differences, while 66% wanted travel packages that allowed them to remove services they did not expect to use. That preference suggests room for more transparent, configurable offers instead of treating every guest as a purchaser of the same inclusions.

Shared activities give solo travel and couples’ breaks new purposes

Fitness and sport could also play a larger part in how travellers make connections. Among British respondents who had taken a solo trip, 68% said a shared physical activity or challenge had led to a lasting friendship or connection. Across the UK findings, 53% were interested in joining a like-minded community while away, and 51% in travelling for a fitness or sporting event.

For accommodation and destination operators, that interest creates a reason to think beyond the event ticket or the overnight stay. Group hikes, training sessions and other well-organised activities may help independent travellers meet people, although the survey does not establish how many would ultimately pay for such experiences.

For couples, the destination can become a setting for conversations they struggle to have at home. Just over half of UK respondents (51%) would consider a trip to resolve relationship conflicts, and 78% identified at least one holiday activity that helps them have an honest or difficult conversation. Walking and hiking together led the activities cited as effective, at 31%.

The appeal is not necessarily an elaborate romantic package. A walk with time to talk may be more useful to some travellers than a heavily scheduled break, giving destinations with accessible outdoor routes a different way to frame their visitor experience without promising relationship outcomes.

Ten destinations enter the 2027 watchlist

Booking.com also named ten places in its 2027 destination selection, spanning European cities, Asian cultural centres and destinations in the Americas and Oceania:

• Reims, France
• Monterey, California, United States
• Sendai, Japan
• Rosario, Argentina
• Puri, India
• Christchurch, New Zealand
• Bratislava, Slovakia
• Goiânia, Brazil
• Pescara, Italy
• Asunción, Paraguay

The company says destinations were first required to rank among its 1,000 most-booked locations from January to June 2026, then considered by year-on-year growth before a limited adjustment for geographic spread. The list is therefore a platform-derived watchlist rather than a prediction that each location will experience the same increase in future arrivals.

A more personal holiday, with practical implications

The broader international research points in a similar direction while highlighting some different priorities. Globally, 81% of respondents would choose a destination based on how they want to feel, 65% were interested in paranormal experiences and 64% expressed interest in having an AI agent manage work tasks while they were away. These figures are global, not UK-specific, and describe hypothetical willingness rather than confirmed adoption.

Ryan Pearson, Booking.com’s UK and Ireland regional manager, described British travellers as increasingly open to journeys that challenge expectations and place greater emphasis on personal meaning. That does not mean conventional beach breaks or landmark sightseeing are disappearing. Instead, the findings suggest that clearer pricing, adaptable itineraries and opportunities for genuinely relevant experiences could become more useful distinctions for travel providers competing for guests’ attention.

The research was conducted online during July and August 2026 among adults expecting to travel for business or leisure within the following 12 to 24 months. Booking.com reports a margin of error of plus or minus 0.6 percentage points for the global sample; the separate UK subgroup should not be assumed to have that same margin.