Land snorkeling? Townsizing? A user's guide to the latest travel lingo

Hamilton Spectator

05-06-2025

For your next trip, have you considered townsizing? What about choosing a detour destination? And instead of forest-bathing, maybe it's time to give land snorkeling a try.
If the terms sound odd, you might need a travel translator. Agencies, online platforms and sometimes travellers themselves have been flexing their creative language skills by labelling trends in travel — some new, some tried-and-true (such as 'bleisure,' a trip that combines business with leisure time).
Here are some terms to help you keep up with travel's shifting lexicon:
Detour destinations:
Last year's destination dupes became this year's detours in Expedia's 2025 trend report.
Detour destinations are 'less well-known and less crowded than tourist hot spots,' according to the report. They can be destinations on their own or side trips from a bigger target … for example, pairing Reims with Paris.
This practical two-for-one trip concept bundles an appealing neighbour with the closest major airport destination.
Townsizing:
If there were awards for Wordsmith of the Year, consider Priceline for its addition of 'townsizing.' Your next vacation is townsized if instead of big-city buzz, you opt for small-town vibes in easygoing destinations.
Land snorkeling:
Think of forest bathing — slow, mindful walks in the woods — and remove the forest, and you have something like land snorkeling. Coined by Montana-based artists Clyde Aspevig and Carol Guzman, land snorkeling in the context of a walk (which could even be in a city) is paying attention to where you are, not necessarily where you're going. It encourages a focus on minute details, the way you might hover over a reef when snorkeling to view the comings and goings of tropical fish and the current's effect on sea fans.
'When you snorkel, you don't go with a destination in mind but go with the water and let (what you are seeing) take over,' Guzman said.
'You wander and you wonder,' Aspevig added.
JOMO travel:
How to fight FOMO, or fear of missing out? Change your point of view with JOMO — joy of missing out — by embracing a vacation that prioritizes relaxing and ditching your phone.
Vacation rental company VRBO proposed this mindset switch, citing 85 per cent of respondents to a company survey who declared an interest in taking a vacation to unplug.
Live tourism:
In its 2025 trends forecast, travel news site Skift came up with 'live tourism' to refer to the increase in the number of people booking trips around live events in entertainment, sports and natural phenomena.
In 2024, few events were bigger travel motivators than the Taylor Swift Eras Tour, the Paris Olympic Games and the total solar eclipse. The next total solar eclipse is expected to pass over Iceland, Portugal and Spain on Aug. 12, 2026. Start planning now!
Mystery tour:
The magic of mystery tours, according to operators, lies in surrendering to the unknown and avoiding the quandary of choice.
High-end agency Black Tomato has a Get Lost service that offers clients journeys to unspecified destinations and the opportunity to find their way out of the wilderness (under a safe watch from afar, they say). The company has organized mystery trips — which are fully customized, but tend to run five to seven nights — in Mongolia, Morocco, Norway and Guatemala.
EF Go Ahead Tours launched its Mystery Tours last year and said it sold out within three hours. Past trips have included Bali and Java in Indonesia. The 2025 slate of unspecified trips are on sale now (from $3,016 for an eight-day tour).
Noctourism:
If it's a travel adventure you have at night — from swimming in phosphorescent bays to stargazing — then it's also known as noctourism.
While it's hardly new, trend forecasters are finding renewed interest in after-dark activities, sometimes as a strategy to beat the heat.
Booking.com
cited noctourism in its 2025 forecast, noting that 54 per cent of travellers surveyed in a recent study planned to increase their nighttime activities to avoid daytime temperatures.
'No matter the outing, the cover of darkness adds a sense of adventure and mystery,' said Stephanie Vermillion, the author of the new book '100 Nights of a Lifetime: The World's Ultimate Adventures After Dark.'
Noctourism activities she covers include catching 'moonbows' or lunar rainbows seen through a waterfall's spray at places such as Victoria Falls in southern Africa, seeing a lava flow in Indonesia, and browsing night markets in Taiwan.
Phenomenon chasing:
Separate natural phenomenon from live tourism and you have phenomenon chasing. Black Tomato cites rising interest in natural events such as the northern lights and solar eclipses among travellers willing to go far and wide to see them in person.
'In a world that can feel overly digital and predictable, there's something incredible about witnessing a rare natural event,' said Rob Murray-John, the head of special projects at Black Tomato. 'These moments let us strip away the noise and immerse in something that feels both intimate and vast, like you're a small part of something much bigger.'
This article originally appeared in
The New York Times
.