Where to go for slow travel, transformative travel and JOMO, as tourists move away from Instagram destinations

Caryn Yap has changed her travel habits over the years. Where once she was a fan of party destinations like Beirut and Barcelona, the Hong Kong-based brand consultant now says she prefers more enriching holiday experiences.

“When I started my own brand and PR consultancy in 2015, [my] work-life balance became harder to achieve so my purpose for taking holidays changed,” says Yap. “I wanted to focus more on myself and on my self-growth, and explore how travel could expand my horizons while unplugging and resetting.”

A couple of years ago, Yap spent several months in hospital with an E coli infection. Then she went through a divorce. Needing time to recuperate, she decided to go on back-to-back escapes. The first was a detox and spiritual healing programme at Fivelements in Bali, and the second was an Ayurvedic retreat at the Santani Wellness resort in Sri Lanka.

“In Bali, I detoxed on delicious vegan food and did a sacred arts programme for personal and spiritual growth – yoga and meditation – and tried some Balinese healing practices, as well as more alternative treatments such as watsu [warm water massage therapy], shamanic reiki [hands-on energy healing] and a fire ceremony,” she says. “I loved it so much that I got reiki-certified when I came home.”

Yap is not alone in her desire to seek out enriching, and even life-changing, holiday experiences.

Travellers from Asia-Pacific are becoming more interested in transformative travel to destinations that provide highly personalised travel experiences leading to personal growth, better work-life balance and improved relationships, according to a APAC survey by travel company Skyscanner released last week based on more than 7,800 responses.

More travellers are now seeing trips as an investment in themselves – something that is deeply personal that cannot be falsified, says Andrea Oschetti, founder of Hong Kong-based bespoke travel company Blueflower.

“Transformative travel is a tricky concept,” Oschetti says. “As a traveller, I know it’s quite impossible to book an epiphany … but some trips come pretty close.”

Another trend on the rise was JOMO – the joy of missing out – which rated high in the Skyscanner survey. An antidote to FOMO (fear of missing out), it refers to the desire to get off the social radar and enjoy feeling cut off from everything for a while. The Skyscanner survey found that JOMO trips are expected to rise 50 per cent next year.

Slow travel was also a growing priority for travellers in 2019, a trend that looks set to continue in 2020.

Trends among Hong Kong holidaymakers showed there was growing interest in off-the-beaten-path destinations as trips inspired by social media fell 45 per cent. The top two emerging destinations for Hong Kong travellers were the Vietnamese island of Phu Quoc and Krabi in Thailand, while Japan, South Korea, Taiwan and Thailand remained among their favourite countries to visit.

The survey also found many airlines are reducing first-class seating to increase the availability of premium economy and business class seats, which promotes “affordable luxury” travel.

For destinations to fit the growing trend of transformative travel, Oschetti suggests those from the Rascal Voyages Exploration Series – luxury cruises that encourage guests to take part in scientific expeditions.

“You travel to remote reaches of the Indonesian archipelago and get involved in important research work. By remote, I mean uncharted; and by important research, I mean the opportunity to discover previously unknown species.”

As for slow travel, he recommends Transylvania in Romania as the ideal place to experience time at a completely different pace.

“After spending days riding horses in forests, spotting bears in the mountains and eating with the locals in all-night feasts, I realised the word ‘tour’ is meaningless in Transylvania: you simply plunge yourself into a way of life that has not changed in centuries.”

Oschetti’s top destination for 2020 is Miavana, an island off the shore of Northern Madagascar. “It fosters slow travel and can be the perfect setting for deep personal transformation,” he says.

Chance Xie, the founder of Journeys by Chance, which also creates tailor-made trips, says Schloss Elmau – a five-star spa resort in the Bavarian Alps – is a must for 2020, as it’s a great place to get away from it all.

“In this family retreat and cultural centre, focus lies on transformative experiences that can be enjoyed together,” Xie says. “In the summer, think mountain bike rides with kid’s buggies, to crystal clear lakes and football training with Bundesliga [Germany’s top football league] professional coaches. Jump into the glacial stream that runs through the property, and warm up in the spacious family sauna afterwards.”

Hiking to skydiving, Chinese tourists go outdoors and extreme

For many travellers, especially within Asia, the ability to escape the city noise is an important factor. Destinations that lean towards the untouched, and remote parts of the world, always make for the most memorable and powerful travel experiences.

Getting off the grid and under the skin of a country is how travellers want to experience the world today, agrees Sarah-Jane Radcliffe, general manager of fellow bespoke travel company Jacada Travel – and her recommendation for exactly that is Ladakh, in India’s northern state of Jammu and Kashmir.

“It’s an incredibly spiritual place, one of the last enclaves of Mahayana Buddhism, which has been the principal [tradition of Buddhism] for almost 1,000 years,” she says. “Monasteries and whitewashed [religious structures] cling to craggy cliffs and colourful prayer flags flutter in the breeze, making for some of the most breathtaking photography sites.”

Yap says she is already lining up more wellness retreats for herself for next year.

“I’m planning to return to Kandaya on the northern tip of Cebu in the Philippines, where I go when I need to clear my mind and rejuvenate with horse-riding, boxing and the spa every day,” she says.

“Also, [wellness travel agent] Ayurva Traveller is arranging an immersive/digital detox holiday to Bhutan, where I will be hiking, spending time in a monastery and interacting with locals to learn more about their culture.”