Europe Travel Trends: Challenges and Opportunities for Suppliers in 2025

With Europe’s adventure travel industry continuing to grow, we’re taking a closer look at the latest trends, challenges and opportunities shaping the market in 2025.

The 2025 active season is underway and it's encouraging to see European travel not only maintaining momentum but continuing to grow at pace.

As industry experts, we are watching the European market closely and recently hosted a dedicated webinar where we invited some of the UK's leading tour operators, journalists and local tour suppliers for a discussion on the most current trends and insights. With over 60 industry professionals tuning in, the panel session proved both insightful and engaging, confirming many of our observations while also revealing some unexpected takeaways!

Watch ADVENTURE EUROPE webinar highlights

This webinar kicked off our ongoing ADVENTURE EUROPE 2025 series, leading up to the main event later this year.

ADVENTURE EUROPE virtual marketplace is back on 18th Nov!

We are excited to be partnering with the European Tourism Association (ETOA) for the second edition of ADVENTURE EUROPE, a virtual marketplace bringing together adventure European suppliers with a vast range of international buyers. Its online format ensures broad accessibility for a wide variety of inbound tour operators and provides a great opportunity to build quality partnerships with well-established tourism businesses.

Registration for European suppliers is open here.

Read on for key webinar takeaways and d information about ADVENTURE EUROPE - plus the opportunity of a special discount!

Overtourism and climate change drive a shifting demand

When asked about the most significant factors influencing traveller behaviour, industry experts unanimously pointed to rising temperatures and overtourism as key drivers behind changing regional preferences.

As classic Mediterranean destinations become increasingly hot during the summer months, more travellers are heading north in search of cooler climates and new experiences. Iceland, Norway, Finland and more recently Greenland, have all experienced a notable surge in visitor numbers in recent years - not just due to their cooler climates, but also thanks to their striking natural landscapes that were once lesser-known to travellers.

Panellist Liesa Bissett, Head of Product Macs Adventure, noted that while overtourism is often associated with major European cities, it is now emerging as a growing concern along some of the most frequented walking routes, such as the Tour du Mont Blanc and the main Camino de Santiago. Our panel of tour operators agreed that they are increasingly looking for alternatives in the lesser-known corners of Eastern Europe and particularly the Balkans. This is a trend that holds some great opportunities for countries such as Albania and Bulgaria, which offer both stunning alpine landscapes and immersive village-to-village walks.

The Rila and Pirin mountains, also known as the Bulgarian Alps, offer world-class trekking away from the crowds

Increased demand holds potential for expanding the shoulder season

Most of the DMCs in our partnership network - and the vast majority of the webinar attendees who completed our poll - agree that increasing the active period, with more tours in the shoulder seasons (early spring and late autumn), is a top priority for suppliers.

With the overall demand for travel rising (already surpassing pre-pandemic levels) and more consumers looking for value-for-money destinations and shorter stays, inbound operators should have a chance to increase their offerings outside the summer period. When asked about the topic, our panellists also suggested that travel seasonality could also be affected by climate change and the increasing demand for more active and off-the-beaten-track experiences.

In summary, inbound operators offering active and experiential tours in destinations with good flight connections to key source markets may have a competitive edge by offering tours during the shoulder season period.

Finnish Lapland is increasingly recognised as an under-the-radar destination with plenty to offer

Greenwashing laws - awareness still low

In 2024, the European Union introduced new legislation to crack down on greenwashing, with significant implications for the travel industry. Under it, companies claiming to be sustainable without being able to prove it will be increasingly subject to legal prosecution and fines. Terms like 'eco-friendly' or 'climate neutral' will not be able to be used unless backed by clear, verifiable evidence (e.g. Travelife Certification). The use of carbon offsetting as a basis for such claims is restricted. 

Despite having been in place for over a year, awareness of this legislation remains low among inbound and outbound operators. More than half of our webinar participants reported having little to no knowledge of the new rules, while only around 30% said they were aware of the legal implications.

Beyond the legal side, this means that robust sustainability certification is becoming a must for companies looking to work with well-established international tour operators that are committed to sustainable travel.

Sustainability certifications are becoming more important as greenwashing awareness rises among consumers

American travellers are turning to Europe

With Donald Trump's presidency shaking the world's politics and economic confidence, we took the chance to ask our guests and webinar panellists if they had noticed any significant implications for Europe's tourism sector.

While it is too early for any long-term impact claims, it was interesting to hear that specialist US tour operators were experiencing a drop in demand for travel to the US of anything between 10 and 20%. This is an opportunity for consumers to switch their demand to Europe . Both Liesa Bissett from Macs Adventure and Mark Walker from KE Adventure Travel shared a similar view that although there's a decrease in demand for America as a destination in 2025, the US is growing as a source market for Europe.

There's a double opportunity for Europe here. Europeans are currently more cautious about travelling to the USA and might switch to travelling in Europe. And conversely, more Americans are travelling and outbound tourism to Europe appears to be on the increase.

ADVENTURE EUROPE returns on 18 November 2025.

Want to stay ahead of the curve? Look out for our Adventure in Europe webinar series with more topics to come as we dig deeper into these challenges and opportunities for suppliers and operators alike.

We would also like to invite you to join us at ADVENTURE EUROPE. This is the second edition of a dedicated B2B marketplace connecting European adventure suppliers with top-tier international buyers looking to source adventure products across the continent.

The marketplace will take place on 18th November - perfectly timed for when buyers are actively seeking new destinations and ideas for the following season. The format is entirely online, allowing local tour companies to participate at very affordable rates.

By attending, local inbound tour operators will:

• Meet pre-qualified buyers with a proven interest in European adventure travel

• Showcase their offerings in a focused setting, perfect to starting new partnerships

• Gain invaluable market insights and network with industry peers

Last year's debut edition was attended by 54 buyers and 61 suppliers who held an overall of 1542 meetings... and this year we are expecting more.

Some of the buyers who attended ADVENTURE EUROPE 2024

You can learn more and register for ADVENTURE EUROPE here.

The Adventure Connection is able to offer our DMC partners and supplier contacts a specially negotiated discount for the event. Get in touch at beth@theadventureconnection.com to find out more!

You can also find a full recording of our ADVENTURE EUROPE webinar here.