Backbackers do it. Families with children do it. And couples aged 60+ do it. People of similar ages are increasingly moving around and doing the same things in flocks. The exception is young childless couples who want to do their own thing, by themselves.

How about lunch in Paris or dinner in New York? This isn’t as crazy as you might think (even if you live in London) because people are getting used to going further. What was once exotic is now considered ordinary, which means that travellers are constantly seeking out new and further flung destinations like Latin America and Asia. Part of the reason for this is the growth of low cost carriers pushing routes further out. US carriers like Jet Blue, Spirit and AirTran are all adding destinations like Jamaica, Costa Rica and the Dominican Republic to their schedules. It’s also got something to do with people having more money to spend and airlines making the experience more comfortable. One could even argue that it’s to do with security post 9/11. If you’ve got to get to an airport 2 or 3 hours before your flight you might as well make the journey worthwhile by going somewhere far away. You could even argue that it’s down to the Internet, which has given ordinary travellers access to new information and low prices.

Look out, the Chinese are coming. Whereas it took 30 years for Japan to reach 17 million outbound trips, China has reached this figure in just 5 years. According to the Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA), the Chinese took roughly 800 million internal trips during 2003. That’s about the same number taken by the rest of the planet in 2003. So imagine what would happen if even a small proportion of this number decided to travel abroad? — You’d have to ration access to tourist sites and even whole countries. Similarly, India is another country with a rapidly emerging middle class with money to spend on travel. In 2003 four and a half million Indians travelled abroad which caused the country to lose millions in foreign currency due to the imbalance between inbound and outbound tourists.

According to the World Tourism Organisation, cultural holidays are the fastest growing sector of the tourism market. This segment includes everything from backpackers looking for ‘real’ experiences half way up the Amazon, to flocks of retirees booking cultural tours through SAGA or the British Museum. As a result towns and cities are increasingly marketing themselves using whatever nature and history have given them. This dovetails with an increased interest in unusual but ‘safe’ destinations. Examples would include former Soviet bloc countries such as Bulgaria and Balkan countries, especially Croatia. Another emerging segment that is part of this cultural voyeurism is what’s been called religious tourism.