‘Noctourism’ is a 2025 Travel Trend and It’s as Cool as It Sounds

Every year brings a new set of trends, including vacation destinations and experiences. As we kick off January and turn the calendar to 2025, one of these travel trends has already started to take hold: noctourism. 

This term refers to travels that are hyper-focused on nighttime experiences. One of the best examples of this would be seeing the Northern Lights. 

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Booking.com surveyed 27,000 travelers in their network and discovered that 62 percent are considering “nighttime” destinations. These include places where seeing the sky and stars in all their glory takes top priority. 

The outlet notes that people are expressing an interest in “ditching daytime crowds for midnight magic.” I gotta admit, that does sound nice. 

“With space tourism edging ever closer to reality, travelers will be focused on building connections with the universe as they turn to more attainable astro-pursuits in 2025,” they wrote in their release. 

That makes sense. We humans have always had a special interest in space, but the interest in space exploration has become even more pronounced in recent years. Seeing these launches occur more frequently and even seeing regular—albeit very rich—people hitting the cosmos, of course we’re all trying to get as close to the stars as possible. 

Another contributor to this newfound interest in noctourism is climate change. Because of rising temperatures during the day, 54 percent of those surveyed said they are considering nighttime explorations. Another 61 percent mentioned avoiding intensifying UV rays as a factor in this decision. 

Vogue described the trend in more detail, explaining that trips based on “full-moon festivals and midnight food markets to eye-popping stargazing, aurora hunts, after-hour safaris, and out-of-this-world accommodations” also fit the description. 

I had never heard of this term before, but after digging into it, consider me a fan. We all could use a break from the nine-to-five rut and hours spent in traffic during the week. Escaping to another place where nighttime activities are the priority sounds pretty refreshing, doesn’t it?