Amadeus Leadership Unveil 2025 Travel Trends at London Summit
A rainy night in Soho. One of my favorite songs from the Pogues, from the late legend Shane McGowan. Thankfully it was a pleasant night in Soho for the launch of our Travel Trends for 2025. We were joined by the Amadeus senior leadership team, as we overlooked the London skyline to look ahead to next year – both for our organization and the industry at large.
In front of an invited audience of media and industry stakeholders, discussions focused on how technology can help us build better journeys for travelers.
We touched on a lot of topics, so let me start with a taste of the Amadeus Travel Trends 2025, developed this year alongside our partners at leading forecasting agency Globetrender.
What are we anticipating with Travel Trends 2025?
As we turn our attention to the year ahead, we expect to see nostalgia, personalization, iconic destinations, a booming tourism market in Asia and spontaneous connections make the headlines.
There is more information on each of the trendshere but expect to hear about New Heydays in the coming year. With change-weary travelers longing for simpler, happier vacations reminiscent of the past, holidaymakers are returning to destinations they knew in their youth, a phenomenon known as "rosy retrospection”. Personalized Flying will also be a hot topic, with advances in Artificial Intelligence (AI), 5G and Augmented Reality (AR) creating highly personalized, connected and immersive experiences for air passengers.
Trailblazer Hotels are also moving up the agenda. Guests are now focused on the destination, rather than the journey, as they plan trips around iconic, "calling card" properties with unique identities. Connections IRL (in real life) will grow in importance, as digital dating burnout rises and travelers explore alternatives for real-world connections, from holiday romances to lasting friendships. Finally, in what we are terming Asia Uplift , the powerhouse region is gearing up for a travel resurgence, aiming to reclaim its position as a key player in the global tourism industry.
A view from the top
Our President and CEO, Luis Maroto, joined us in London and took the chance to look back at Amadeus over the past 37 years. Over nearly four decades, we have successfully grown to become one of the most influential travel technology providers worldwide, with customers from across the travel and tourism industry, and strategic partnerships with some of the biggest tech players in the world.
Turning his attention to 2025 and beyond, he explained how travel remains a fascinating growth industry where the only constant is change. This is a sector where the influence of technology and innovation are only going to rise.
We heard it argued there are growth opportunities across both industries. Travel represents nearly ten per cent of global GDP, while the technology space serving the travel industry has a sizeable overall addressable market opportunity, estimated by industry sources, at around €89 billion.
"For me personally, it is particularly satisfying to see Amadeus grow. Teams around the world are extremely passionate about travel and technology and it’s thanks to them we are capable of making the impact we do on our industry."
Luis Maroto, President and CEO, Amadeus
What will the Travel of Tomorrow look like?
In a session entitled Travel of Tomorrow, several Amadeus executives explored what travel and hospitality landscape might look like in the future. They asked to reflect on where we are today, and what do we want to achieve as an industry?
Decius Valmorbida, President, Travel unit, explained that Amadeus is on a constant journey to expand its reach, working to connect travel every step of the way. He added we need to advance together as an industry using open technology, enabling true orchestration through the travel ecosystem, to deliver a seamless end-to-end journey.
Francisco Pérez-Lozao Rüter, President, Hospitality, added that Amadeus is poised to lead the hospitality industry into a new era of digitalization. By offering a comprehensive portfolio of solutions, we are in a position to address key challenges faced by travelers and hoteliers, creating a more connected, efficient, and personalized hospitality experience.
Our Chief Technology Officer, Sylvain Roy, was on hand to describe how we aim to power the largest, most vibrant ecosystem of open, connected and flexible travel solutions, while Nikolaus Samberger, Senior Vice President Engineering & Technology, dived into the Creation Platform. This cloud-native and data-centric platform connects our customers and partners to accelerate innovation and is designed so that airlines can be connected to and integrate with third parties of their choosing.
How can we build a Future Traveler Journey?
A final panel welcomed Elena Avila, Executive Vice President, Travel Distribution; Cyril Tetaz, Executive Vice President, Airline Solutions; Rudy Daniello, Executive Vice President of Airport and Airline Operations; Peter Waters, Executive Vice President, Hotel IT, Hospitality; and David Doctor, Chief Executive of Outpayce to the stage.
The lively conversation looked at the business-to-business-to-consumer role we are able to play in the travel space, bringing opportunities like New Distribution Capability (NDC) and the Offer & Order transition to modern airline retailing to life. By walking through the various stages of a trip, from inspiration through to post trip feedback and loyalty, the panel was able to show how our technology makes the experience of travel better for all.
A packed agenda, then, as we look forward to next year – with much to anticipate and get excited about as we enter 2025.
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