The UK ranks among top 10 travel destinations for 2025, Siteminder finds

A new report by software platform SiteMinder shows that the UK ranks among top 10 travel destinations for 2025, above Thailand, Turkey and Greece. The report highlighted strong interest among incoming travellers from Canada––where the UK was the third preferred travel destination for next year, Australia (4th) and Spain (4th). Respondents from heavyweight source markets such as the US, Italy and France also expressed strong interest in the UK, with the country ranking sixth in the former two and seventh in the latter.

James Bishop, SiteMinder’s Vice President of Ecosystem and Strategic Partnerships, who presented the report stated that the UK hospitality industry is growing at a rate of 5.9%, almost double the rate of the UK economy right now. He explains: “I think there’s some really strong opportunities within UK hospitality and travel right now. The Changing Traveller Report which surveyed 12,000 travellers across 14 countries with 25 travel and accommodation specific questions, revealed that the top three destinations France, Germany and the USA are the top three indicated source markets for the UK.

“This is where the travellers we surveyed in those regions said that travelling to the UK is one of their core destinations in 2025.” Globally, the Singaporean traveller is the most likely to travel internationally next year (93%), followed by those from China (85%), Thailand (83%), Indonesia (79%) and Germany (76%), with Millennials (28-43), the most likely generation to venture abroad, at 80%.”

Bishop adds: “Despite being a tiny island it feels great that the UK is among the top 10. I think it’s also important to note that the intention of this report was very much around leisure travel and not about travellers having to visit the UK 17 times a year for business.”

The research uncovered what Bishop coined as the “everything traveller”, who is empowered by greater choice to control their accommodation experience and stay. He states: “We have coined today’s travellers as an everything traveller because of how dynamic they are. So if you look at personal suggestions versus online communities, there’s an indication across travellers that they are much more inclined to look at the sort of social reviews rather than reviews for family or friends or recommendations. There’s also a propensity to be spending some time on site, or more time on site that is at the hotel. What’s also interesting is that travellers to the UK are becoming more budget conscious just in terms of what they book as a room. However, they’ve got a high propensity to spend on extras. So really, you know, just treating themselves on the experience, but the room is what it is.”

Among UK travellers, SiteMinder’s data shows that 69% plan to travel overseas in 2025, down by 2% year-on-year. This rises to as high as 79% among UK Gen Zers (18-27). Domestically, their top destinations will be Scotland (24%), London (21%), the South West (20%), Wales (18%) and the North West (14%), while internationally, they will favour Spain (18%), which remains particularly popular among Gen X travellers (44-59) (27%), France (10%), Greece (9%), Italy (9%) and the US (7%). Forty-one percent will travel with their partner, 30% with immediate or extended family, 15% solo, 13% with friends and 1% with colleagues.

One of the key insights relating to the UK traveller from SiteMinder’s Changing Traveller Report 2025 included the rise of travel agent bookings in the UK which saw a 14.5% planning to book their trip with the help of a travel agent. This is up from 6.5% in 2020 and the UK is second only to Canadians in using travel agents to book their hotel stay in 2025. Notably, Millennial (28-43) bookings through travel agents have grown from 11% to 18% in the last year.

According to Bishop, the UK will see a surge in agency bookings because there’s a higher level of trust and security. He says: “Millennials are mainly moving away from booking online and actually starting to book those looking at booking experiences through travel agents. Today you see a lot of online influencers on Instagram promoting all these amazing places, and sometimes people feel they just want someone who is a travel expert to help them get a similar experience. Especially after Covid, people are still burned from a lot of the cancellations. Booking your trip with the help of a travel agency just adds a level of security.”

Another key insight the report uncovered is that 50% of UK travellers will choose Standard (basic quality) Rooms in 2025, above the global average (46%) and reaching 59% among Baby Boomers (60-78). This contrasts the only 19% of Chinese travellers choosing Standard Rooms, however remains below those from Spain (59%), Canada (55%), Italy (55%), Thailand (54%), Germany (53%), France (52%) and Mexico (51%). Bishop believes that there’s a great opportunity there for hotels, not necessarily to charge more for an eco-friendly stay, but to highlight the efforts that they put into creating a more eco friendly environment for their staff and for their guests. Talking to a number of the larger global travel brokers and sort of OTAs, Bishop notes that they are really looking to highlight and display the eco-credentials of properties, because it’s becoming something that gets noticed and guests are willing to spend more on sustainability.

Additionally, despite this budget-conscious approach, UK travellers remain committed to creating memorable travel and accommodation experiences in 2025. Fifty-three percent say they are more likely to travel for an event, 57% are willing to pay more for eco-friendly options and 82% are open to spending additional on extras beyond the cost of their room.

According to Bishop, the Oasis upcoming concert is the prime example of how guests are willing to splurge on an experience. He also states that with event driven demand comes event driven pricing and its a common phenomena within the UK. Bishop says: “Travellers are becoming more and more savvy with this concept with 65% of global travellers agreeing with demand based pricing and only 13% disagreeing. Whereas UK travellers are not so on board with it, especially in light of the recent event where a hotel cancelled a man’s booking after confirmation and more than doubled its price after Oasis announced their reunion tour. In my opinion that was not demand based pricing but just opportunism.”

The report also highlighted that when on site, 28% plan to work, up by 6% year-on-year, but well below the global average of 41%. Forty-one percent intend to spend “most of the time” or “considerable time” at their hotel, ten points below the global average. Lastly, another key insight the report revealed was that 63% of travellers are open to the use of AI at times for planning, booking and experiencing their hotel stay, rising to above 90% among Gen Zers (18-27) and dropping to below 40% among those over the age of 60. SiteMinder’s data exposes stark contrasts in openness to AI, with strong adoption in Thailand and Indonesia (98% each), China (96%), and India (94%), compared to lower levels in Canada, Australia (62%), Germany, France, and the UK (63% each).

Bishop says: “I don’t look at AI today as necessarily robots, but where hotels can really benefit from that is in that guest journey, is having that AI concierge available for those who want it. I don’t see it as a replacement. There’s always people that don’t want it. But if you had an app and something that people could have on demand in the middle of the night, that they need something, for instance I don’t like phoning reception at two o’clock in the morning and asking for a bottle of water, even though, having worked on reception, that’s perfectly normal, and I expect that all the time. But if I can just do that through an app, and it turns up, that’s fantastic. So, and that really is, AI is kind of really leaning towards the traveller.”

Bishop adds that the UK’s strong ranking among the top 10 global destinations for 2025 reflects the country’s enduring appeal across diverse markets and traveller profiles. He concludes: “To capitalise on this, UK hoteliers must meet the needs of today’s ‘everything traveller’, who values cost-efficiency but is willing to invest in what they see as priority extras to add real value to their experience. In this landscape, data-driven insights become critical, empowering hoteliers to anticipate guest needs and deliver them tailored experiences that drive satisfaction, positive reviews, and loyalty.”