The 'worth it' factor: how passion, not panic, is driving 2026 travel

She is going to buy skincare products.

The 26-year-old from Melbourne joins the "glowmads" movement, tipped by flight search website Skyscanner in its new Travel Trends 2026 report as one of the hottest trends for 2026.

"Skincare was definitely a big factor that drew me to choosing Seoul for my holiday," Ms Gould told Explore.

"Aside from the country's culture and attractions, the range of skincare options they have in Seoul is really exciting as I don't have access to most of them here in Australia.

"With Korean beauty trending on TikTok, I'm not afraid to say I've fallen down the rabbit hole, and I already have a list of products that I have my eyes on for when I'm over there."

Skyscanner's annual report provides insight into the future of travel and tourism by blending hotel and flight search data with a consumer survey. This year, it polled 2000 Australians about their 2026 travel choices.

The report found the highs of post-COVID "revenge travel" are gone. In 2026, we are adventuring with more purpose and making our travel - including where we go, what we do and who we do it with - more "personal".

Budget will be a major player, with seven out of 10 survey respondents saying cost is the biggest factor when choosing where to holiday. Skyscanner travel expert Brendan Walsh told Explore the economic climate means people are looking for trips that are "genuinely worth it" - and aligning their holidays with their passions. He said travellers are "certainly looking for greater value" when planning their holidays.

When Ms Gould buys her cult skincare goods in Seoul, she will join more than a third of the Skyscanner survey respondents who indicated they would buy beauty products while holidaying abroad in 2026.

Another growing trend is visiting local supermarkets to buy quirky snacks and regional ingredients. More than 40 per cent of respondents said they planned to explore grocery stores on their next holiday, creating the "shelf discovery" trend.

Mr Walsh said Aussies were keen to "buy some great produce, go back to the hotel and cook that food up, instead of going out to a fine-dining restaurant".

A further emerging trend, "catching flights and feelings", has Aussies holidaying to meet people, counteracting the time they spend on screens. More than 20 per cent of respondents said they planned to meet new people on their next holiday, sparking friendships or going on dates.

Another trend, "bookbound", has Aussies travelling to locations made famous in their favourite books, planning reading retreats and exploring beautiful bookshops and libraries on holidays.

And to pull it all together, travellers are becoming more confident using artificial intelligence. More than 40 per cent of survey respondents said they were comfortable using AI to plan their 2026 trips and a third were using the technology to compare flights and hotels. Mr Walsh called this a "game changer" and a "new era of travel search".

Hamilton in New Zealand is a location to watch in 2026, according to Travel Trends, with a huge 856 per cent increase in flight searches on Skyscanner between January 1 and June 31, 2025, compared to the same period in 2024. This coincides with Jetstar launching new direct flights between Sydney and Hamilton in June.

Paro in Bhutan was up 155 per cent, Koror in Palau was up 102 per cent, Vietnam's Phu Quoc rose 94 per cent and Labuan Bajo in Indonesia rose 73 per cent during the same period - putting these emerging hotspots on the 2026 radar as well.

Destinations that are shaping up as good value next year include Launceston in Tasmania, where the price of return economy flights was down 18 per cent in the first six months of this year; Apia in Samoa, down 17 per cent; and Poland's Warsaw and Vienna in Austria, which both dropped 14 per cent. A surprise was New York, with flight prices also dropping 14 per cent during the period.

Have you explored any of these travel trends? Let us know at editor@exploretravel.com.au