Cox and Kings has looked at travel trends for next year and says that immersive experiences will take precedence over destinations.

The operator indicates that in the coming year, travellers will seek experiences that are defined by their personality, interests and style, most of which have been evolving over the years but will find a definite pattern moving towards 2018.

Peter Kerkar, group CEO, Cox & Kings Ltd. presents the top 8 experiences that will gain momentum in the coming year.

• Culinary Tours:

While culinary trips as part of larger holidays are already in place, what will emerge are food tours, not only focussing on dining or food tasting but more on the cooking style, history of cuisines, local flavours and tradition.

• Glamping:

Travellers want to be a part of immersive experiences without compromising on the luxuries, and glamping combines luxurious accommodation and in-destination experiences. With glamping taking various forms – think Canvas tents at TUTC in the mountains of Ladakh, Safari lodges in the thick forests of Masaai Mara in Africa, igloo pods in Swiss Alpes or floating cabins on the coast of Cambodia, Glamping, clearly is one of the most popular travel segments the coming year.

• Genealogy:

The curiosity to know more about the world and about oneself, their past, legacy, and ancestral history has given birth to the concept of ‘tracing your roots’. Given a large Indian diaspora population has been living in different continents for years, there is a sudden rise in third generation travellers, travelling to their ancestral properties back in India and experiencing their cultural roots. Tracing one’s family back home while exploring other destinations around is fast catching up with the new age traveller.

• River Cruising

River cruises will be the flavour of 2018. Exploring cities in France as you sail in its inland waters like Arles, Avignon, Viviers, Tournon and Lyon to experience France’s beauty intimately or gliding along Russia’s river waters to explore Uglich, Yaroslavl, Kuzino and Kizhi, River Cruising has piqued the interest of travellers.

• Voluntourism

Being environmentally and socially conscious travellers are facilitating Voluntourism across countries like South Africa, India, Cambodia, Nepal, Peru and Mexico to name a few.

• Destinations that are shrinking

An increased number of tourists will visit the Dead Sea in Israel, The Alps in Europe, The Great Barrier Reef in Australia, Wineries in America and Archipelagos around the world in 2018 before climate change takes over.

• Extreme Adventure

Pushing your travel boundaries with extreme adventure is in vogue. Those who wish to test and push their strength are picking up tough expeditions such as Ice cycling in Mongolia, Trekking through ice in search of snow leopards in Spiti, Cruising in Antarctica, Mountain cycling in Bhutan, rafting in remote rivers, taking advanced open water courses in Philippines and frozen river treks in Indus valley among many others.

• Wellness

Wellness will emerge as people focus more on improving their physical and emotional well-being by travelling for meditation, spa, yoga, Ayurveda massages and bathing in mineral rich water bodies for rejuvenation. Travellers will take detox breaks in the foothills of Himalayas, indulge in spa treatments in Thailand or Bali and rejuvenate through ayurvedic treatments in Kerala.