Mastercard Economics Institute: What moves us? The motivations behind global travel in 2025

The Mastercard Economics Institute (MEI) today released Travel Trends 2025, its annual report with unique and proprietary consumer spending insights globally. While exchange rates and geopolitical dynamics can influence consumer behavior, the report highlights that passions and purpose-driven motivations remain strong drivers shaping the travel industry.

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Drawing on a unique analysis of aggregated and anonymized transaction data and third-party data sources, the report uncovers what is shaping travel choices today. Key findings include:

Sports fandom fuels travel

MEI examined spending around three major sporting events¹, proving them as powerful catalysts for travel:

• Champions League Final in London: Real Madrid’s victory over Borussia Dortmund led to a 61% YOY increase in German spending, outpacing the overall increase of 14%. Spanish spending spiked by 148% YOY, suggesting fans celebrated by splurging.
• Baseball World Series in Los Angeles: Shohei Ohtani’s World Series debut saw spending by Japanese visitors surge by 91%, six times the cross-border boost.
• Copa Libertadores Final in Buenos Aires: The rise in spending from Brazilian tourists, where both teams hailed, was more than twice the increase from all foreign countries.

Purpose-drive travel for wellness, adventure, and foodie experiences

The Wellness Travel Index (WTI), developed by MEI to highlight destinations leading the way for wellness experiences and self-care², has Namibia, South Africa, and Thailand topping the list with offerings like eco lodges and meditation retreats. The rising WTI score for Italy, New Zealand and Canada suggests a growing effort to meet this popular trend.

For adventurers, MEI analyzed how commerce at major national parks is contributing to overall tourist expenditures.³ Established wilderness giants, South Africa and Zambia, show the highest national park spending as a share of total cross-border, 23.3% and 15.5% in 2024, respectively. In close third, travelers are heading to the Nordics, where Finland’s national parks account for 7.1% of total cross-border spending.

The number of nationalities seeking local cuisine provides insight into destinations appealing to the foodie-traveler. MEI found that Istanbul's restaurants hosted tourists from 67 countries in 2024, the highest among 43 cities measured. Cannes, Interlaken, Gianyar, and Barcelona follow in the top five.

Currency can impact travel, but it varies regionally

In 2024, currency depreciation drove visitors in search of value to Japan, where a 1% JPY depreciation against the RMB led to a 1.5% increase in Chinese Mainland tourists. However, visitors from New Zealand and the U.S. rose only around 0.2% in response to the same degree of depreciation relative to their currencies.

Corporate travel is less frequent, but trips are longer

According to MEI, U.S. and U.K. corporate flight bookings show the average business trip now lasts longer than before the pandemic. For U.S.-based travelers, trips to the Asia-Pacific region increased from 8.8 days⁴ to 10.2 days⁵ and trips to Europe grew from 7.4 to 8.1 days. This trend applies to U.K. corporate travelers too, except for trips to Canada and the U.S., which shortened between 2020 and 2025.

Trending summer spots for 2025

Asia-Pacific commands the list of trending spots this summer⁶ for global travelers, with eight destinations in the top 15. Tokyo and Osaka lead with the largest increases in travel bookings for June-September 2025 compared to last year. For American and Canadian travelers, Tokyo retains the top spot too, but beach destinations like San Juan, Kahului, Punta Cana, Tulum and Montego Bay are gaining popularity. Tirana, Albania gained the largest increase in European visitors — led by tourists from Italy — of any city in 2024⁷.

“Global travel motivations go beyond economics,” said Michelle Meyer, chief economist at MEI. “When making the decision to travel, consumers are often seeking purpose and authenticity, along with value. Understanding these motivations is key to navigate the travel sector in 2025, especially during times of economic and policy uncertainty.”

Powering a safer, smarter travel ecosystem

According to MEI, fraud in popular tourist destinations spikes up to 28% during peak seasons. Mastercard employs advanced fraud prevention technologies, including digital wallets and AI-driven systems, to protect travelers from scams. This ensures that travelers can focus on their journeys without worrying about security threats. Mastercard is dedicated to helping the global tourism sector welcome travelers through a range of services, from market analysis and high-frequency data insights that help make sense of changing consumer trends to customer engagement strategies that personalize the travel experience and drive brand loyalty.

Enhancing the cardholder travel experience

Mastercard elevates every journey with comprehensive travel benefits that bring ease, savings, and peace of mind to both everyday purchases and global adventures. From discounted flights and car rentals to dedicated travel support and personalized recommendations, cardholders can explore with confidence. By visiting priceless.com, cardholders can also unlock exclusive experiences and valuable offers across travel, culinary, wellness, and more.

You can view the full “Travel Trends 2025: Purpose-driven journeys” and other reports and insights from MEI, here.

About the Mastercard Economics Institute

The Mastercard Economics Institute provides insights into global and local economic trends using advanced analytics and Mastercard's proprietary data assets. Established in 2020, MEI supports businesses, governments, and policymakers with economic monitoring services and timely analysis on economic themes including consumer spending, retail and travel trends, and other local and global barometers of economic performance. MEI offers valuable perspectives to inform decision-making and promote sustainable growth worldwide through our thought leadership series, and through Mastercard's specialized product offerings.

¹ Spending at merchant within five miles of the venue In the five days before and after the event

²WTI is calculated using the share of cross-border accommodation spending at wellness-related merchants, multiplied by each country’s share of global wellness-related accommodation transaction

³ The analysis created a boundary box using minimum and maximum longitude and latitude of each major national park, measured spending within boundary box.

⁴ Feb 2019-Feb 2020

⁵ Mar 2024-Mar 2025

⁶ OAG flight booking data for travel bookings made Jan-Mar 2025 for travel Jun-Sep 2025 relative to previous levels

⁷ MEI calculated the change in flight bookings to each destination between 2019 and 2024 using data from OAG

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