Italy’s travel market continues to gain momentum, reaching €30 billion in gross bookings in 2025, up 4.5% year over year as inbound demand hits new highs. Digital channels are driving much of this growth, with online bookings now making up 58% of the market and mobile leading the way. Strength spans every major segment, from hotels and airlines to rail, all evolving alongside shifting traveler behavior. Even amid geopolitical uncertainty, Italy’s broad appeal and ongoing digital transformation position it for continued growth. Dive into three key things to know about Italy’s travel market.

What defines a truly premium trip today? For indulgent travelers, it starts with the basics but quickly moves beyond them. Safety, security and high-quality food and beverage are expected, not differentiators. The real value emerges in privacy, well-being and exceptional service that feels personal without being intrusive. Yet expectations vary by generation, from boomers seeking effortless, all-inclusive experiences to millennials and Gen Z prioritizing access, individuality and insider moments. New research from Phocuswright reveals what travelers are unwilling to compromise on and what ultimately makes a premium experience worth the price, offering clear signals for suppliers aiming to stand out and build lasting loyalty.

South Africa is a market of contrasts: a youthful, mobile-first population and improving payments infrastructure sit alongside persistent constraints around infrastructure reliability, cost pressure and perceptions of safety. On the demand side, a widening “volume-value” gap in domestic travel and a resilient inbound base is driven heavily by regional visitors, even as long-haul recovery remains uneven. Layered on top are emerging AI signals—from tourism-board assistants to growing traveler adoption—alongside regulatory and trust considerations that will shape how quickly digital transformation can translate into durable growth.

Wellness tourism has doubled in size over the past decade, reaching US$894 billion in 2024 and it's on track to hit $1.4 trillion by 2029. But the more telling story isn't the scale. It's the shift. Travelers aren'tbooking wellness as an occasional indulgence; they're building it into every trip, budgeting for it even when they cut back elsewhere, and traveling hours to access it.   From geothermal destinations to silent retreats to all-inclusive spa resorts, demand is accelerating across markets. Governments, hotel brands and private investors are responding. The question for online travel players is whether they can translate that demand into scalable product before the window closes. Phocuswright and WiT's Online Travel Tracker: The Wellness Stack maps the full landscape: where consumer demand is concentrated, where capital is flowing and where the booking infrastructure still has meaningful gaps.

Spain’s travel market remained one of Europe’s strongest performers in 2025, with international arrivals totaling a record 96.8 million and gross bookings reaching nearly €39 billion. Growth has been supported by Spain’s steady momentum as well as redirected demand from travelers seeking alternatives amid geopolitical disruption in the Middle East. Hotels reported record revenue and the market saw notable developments across rail, aviation and online travel distribution. Although challenges around overtourism, transport disruption and broader uncertainty remain, Spain enters the next period from a position of strength.

Japan's travel market posted US$94.2 billion in gross bookings in 2025, an 8% gain and the clearest sign yet that the country's post-pandemic recovery is real. For the first time in years, the yen wasn't distorting the numbers: a strengthened currency meant the growth was genuine.  But the more important story is structural. Inbound arrivals hit a record 42.7 million. Outbound travel sat at 14.7 million. Japan flipped from an outbound-heavy market a decade ago and hasn't looked back. Now, with a shrinking population weighing on domestic consumption, policymakers are treating inbound tourism as a national economic lever, not just a hospitality metric.  What comes next is less about volume and more about value, regional distribution and managing the strains of success.

Growth is not the same as winning. U.K. OTA gross bookings hit £10.3 billion in 2025, a record. OTA market share fell anyway. For the third consecutive year. But here's what that headline misses: supplier-direct share is barely moving either, inching from 78% to a projected 81% by 2029. The U.K. distribution battle isn't being won. It's being settled. Channels are locking into fixed positions, with one notable exception: hotels, where OTAs still hold roughly equal footing with direct. Phocuswright's U.K. Travel Market Essentials 2026 maps exactly where the lines have been drawn and what, if anything, could still move them.