Travel Trends 2025 #5: ART-Venture (according to Skyscanner)

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Every year, Skyscanner releases its Travel Trends report.

For 2025, the platform identified seven imaginative, hybrid, and often surprising ways people will travel next.

In this series, I take a closer look at each trend through the lens of tourism innovation, experience design, and destination strategy.

Source: Skyscanner Travel Trends 2025 > https://www.skyscanner.net/travel-trends/art-culture

Art-Venture Trend Overview

What is “ART-venture”?

“ART-venture” blends cultural curiosity with the spirit of adventure.

Skyscanner describes this trend as the rise of travelers who seek artistic experiences not in formal galleries, but out in the world—murals in back alleys, ephemeral installations in nature, artist-run spaces in post-industrial zones, or immersive festivals under the stars.

It’s not just about looking at art—it’s about discovering it, interacting with it, and sometimes even creating it.

Why is ART-Venture emerging?

Cultural travel is evolving fast, shifting from contemplative models to more immersive, participatory experiences rooted in lived places:

  • Younger generations value informal, Instagrammable art over classic museum visits
  • Post-pandemic, there’s a desire to combine outdoor exploration with creative expression
  • Art is increasingly seen as participatory, not just observational
  • There’s rising interest in urban regeneration, DIY spaces, and art as a tool for community building

Who is adopting ART-Venture?

Mostly Millennials and Gen Z, but also creative professionals, design-minded travelers, and families looking for stimulating, non-traditional learning experiences.

It also aligns with travelers who enjoy street culture, festivals, or niche creative subcultures.

Where and how does ART-Venture show up?

Skyscanner identifies a wave of bookings linked to art districts, fringe festivals, and nature-meets-art destinations.

Examples include:

  • Open-air sculpture parks and land art trails
  • Street art tours led by local creatives
  • Abandoned villages transformed into art labs or pop-up residencies
  • Creative retreats where travelers co-create murals, installations, or performances

It’s art as atmosphere, exploration, and interaction.

Implications of ART-Venture for Destinations and Tourism Operators

What does this trend suggest for tourism professionals?

ART-venture reflects a larger shift: cultural travel is becoming kinetic, participatory, and multisensory.

It suggests that:

  • Destinations don’t need world-famous museums to offer high-impact art experiences
  • Artistic narratives can emerge in peripheral or unconventional spaces
  • Art can drive tourism—but also shape place identity, foster inclusion, and regenerate forgotten areas

Practical applications and challenges of ART-Venture

Opportunities:

  • Activate underutilized urban/rural spaces as canvases, galleries, or studios
  • Partner with local artists to create co-creative workshops or slow art walks
  • Develop seasonal ART-venture packages around festivals, installations, or creative labs
  • Use digital tools (AR, geocaching, audio guides) to add layers of exploration

Challenges:

  • Art as tourism product must respect artistic integrity and local culture
  • Risk of superficial experiences if not grounded in community
  • Managing temporary vs permanent: how to maintain freshness without constant rebuilding

How could ART-Venture be localized in different contexts?

This trend can thrive in places with raw textures, creative communities, or cultural layers waiting to be revealed. For instance:

  • Reclaim an abandoned factory as a living art space—where travelers meet resident artists, co-create pieces, and explore local materials
  • Offer a “creative micro-pilgrimage” where participants walk across landscapes, stopping to engage with temporary installations and leave their own symbolic mark
  • Curate an art-and-nature loop in a mountain or rural area—blending sculpture, sound art, and storytelling along a trail
  • Build a seasonal pop-up village for creativity and culture, where visitors sleep in artist-designed cabins and wake to hands-on workshops or sunrise performances

The ART-venture traveler doesn’t want just to admire the world—they want to reimagine it, with paint on their hands and dirt on their boots.

Conclusion

ART-venture shows us that art tourism is no longer just about reverence—it’s about resonance, surprise, and participation.

For tourism innovators, it raises timely questions:

  • Can art lead travelers off the beaten path—into alleyways, quarries, and barns?
  • How might creativity become a form of hospitality, not just a theme?
  • What happens when destinations are not only seen, but co-created?

In a world craving connection and self-expression, art is no longer just the frame. It’s the journey.

Only a truly intentional design approach—one that starts from the real needs and desires of people—can create active experiences that are authentic, sustainable, and memorable.

It’s time to move beyond labels and standard packages: destinations need a new kind of direction, able to integrate movement, storytelling, and a sense of belonging.

It’s not enough to follow trends: we need to anticipate and interpret them in a unique way, adapting them to our own identity and the needs of travelers.

If you’d like to explore how to turn emerging trends into real opportunities for your destination, get in touch for tailored advice or new ideas.

And what about your experience? Which experiences or activities are working well in your destination, or what would you like to experiment with?

Share your thoughts in the comments—fresh perspectives are always welcome.

Sources

Master report: Skyscanner Travel Trends 2025 > https://www.skyscanner.net/travel-trends/summary

ART-venture trend page > https://www.skyscanner.net/travel-trends/art-culture

Image: Andrea Rossi with Dall-E

Series Navigation

This is post #5/7 in the blog series “Travel Trends 2025 (by Skyscanner)”

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