Without a doubt, the travel industry is filled with niche travel businesses that go in and out of demand with the trends. These trends can change month to month, season to season, or even follow the flow of fashion trends. But there is no question that over the past 3 years, some niche styles of travel have absolutely skyrocketed.
So, whilst many travel professionals know exactly how they want to specialise when they take the first steps on their entrepreneurial journey, many just want to immerse themselves in travel, however it comes.
If you’re getting started on your own journey into the world of running your own niche travel business, let us make selling travel simple, and give you some of 2024’s top trends to explore!
Adventure Travel
Though tourist attractions will always be popping up on bucket lists around the world, recent history has mostly consisted of a wave of eye-rolling and groaning at even the suggestion of being a tourist, let alone one with attractions.
So perhaps it’s no surprise that the beginning of this exasperation coincides with the demand for local, adventurous, and ‘authentic’ trips.
The travel industry has always been happy to oblige demand, and this niche travel business has yet to reach its peak in popularity. From adventure packages rooted in specific destinations, custom packages for each traveller, and even adventure trips focused purely on local suppliers and sustainable practices, this particular niche is bursting with inspiration.
This also encompasses walking tours, hiking adventures, group exploration, and more, so don’t forget to read up on that extra adventurous travel insurance to keep your clients well informed!
If you have connections in far off places, can’t choose a specific destination, or love the variety, this could be exactly the niche travel business for you in 2025.
Plus, if you start your adventure travel business as a member of Protected Trust Services (PTS), you can sell all the niche destinations you like with minimal stress thanks to our multiple currency accounts and currency hedging features.
Golf
By far the most popular niche travel business among PTS members, is golf (what can we say, our package is a hole-in-one!). While this is a lot more catered than adventure holidays, our golfing members all provide something very unique for every kind of golfer.
This is also a very flexible niche. You could specialise in Scottish golfing holidays and never have to worry about selling flights, or you could pick a far-off idyllic landscape where golfers will love the atmosphere on and off the course.
If you have a particular interest in golfing or more relaxed sporting holidays, this may just be the perfect niche travel business for you. There is no end to ways you could build the perfect golfing package, designed to melt stress away.
These are also perfect if you would like to target an older audience, or you would like to provide for an audience that wants every little things taken care of for them. With a complete package like this, you could have a loyal customer-base in no time.
Plus, if you start a golfing travel business as a member of PTS, you will have access to over 240 unique supplier contracts, while also able to use any supplier that fits your style.
Ski
If you want to guarantee some seasonal time away, you must at least consider skiing. Selling skiiing, that is. While there are several seasonal niches in the market in 2024, skiing will forever be the reigning champion. Sometimes the season will depend slightly on the destination you choose to sell, so choose wisely!
Skiing very much takes the overlap of adventure and golf and brings them together in a winter wonderland. This means slightly high stakes sports-wise, but an all-encompassing package, perfected with a roaring fire and some marshmallows.
Skiing attracts a lot of experienced travellers as well. So, whilst you will be doing everything for them, this is the perfect niche travel business if you prefer travellers who already know what travel insurance to get, have an idea of what kind of protection they’re looking for, and know what to do if something goes wrong.
It is also perfect if you want your seasonal time away, but you love family holidays. You will rarely have a single traveller while selling skiing holidays, so if you’re a people person, this could be your niche.
And, of course, if you decide to sell skiing holidays while being a PTS member, your travellers can rest assured that all their monies are paid directly into the trust account, separated, reconciled daily, and protected until their holiday is complete.
Sports
If you like surprises, excited sports fans, and travellers with as much passion as you, sporting holidays are in their peak following the end of the Covid pandemic. There truly is nothing to make a traveller appreciate the atmosphere they’re missing like a global lockdown, and after the effects of the pandemic on travel began to fade, sports fans have been more eager to see the moment they’ve been waiting for live.
This is another niche travel business with lots of places to go. If your travellers are no-nonsense people, you could be selling more last-minute holidays to those who know exactly where they’re going.
However, over the past couple years, there has been a rise in demand for a bit more of a surprise. This involves, say a football travel business, which fans will book with before the destination of the next game has even been revealed. It means that you, as the travel business, will need to be vigilant about upcoming news, and book out that traveller’s entire package when that destination becomes a fact.
The fan may not even know until you hand them their booking information and tell them they’re going to France.
For this reason, we highly recommend this type of niche specifically to experts in sports, who now want to enter travel, as opposed to travel experts who may not know much about the sports they’re catering to. So, if you’re a big fan and you just want to take control of your own work, this could be the niche for you.
Plus, if you start selling sports holidays as a member of PTS, you could have quick and simple access to hundreds of suppliers all in one easy-to-use software system. So however last minute the booking is, you can get it done efficiently.
Wellness
You may have noticed that a lot of the popular niches at the moment involve quite a bit of activity. And while people are more aware of their own physical health and activity than ever, we are also in a year where mental health is finally taking just as high importance. After all, the only stress skiing should cause is on whatever jacket is trying to keep the chill out!
So, whilst activity is in demand, the right kind of inactivity is also key for many travellers. This could be a meditation retreat with a group of like-minded people, or a spa-break in the countryside with the person your traveller loves most, or it could just be taking a break in the wilderness alone, with maybe a luxurious bath thrown in here and there.
As it comes, wellness can mean very different things to different people, including to your niche travel business. There are people trying to relax in a thousand different ways around the globe, and your travel business could provide exactly what they need.
So, if you’re invested in people, if you want to take care of others (without the stress of a hospital or ambulance setting), and if you want to do that through travel, this is the perfect niche for your travel business.
And with the Franchise ATOL provided through a PTS membership, you could be sending your travellers to the most luxurious spas around the world, limitless.
Are You Ready to Get Started?
So, if you’re looking to break free and take control of your working life, and you’re ready to get started in travel, don’t hesitate! When you get in touch with our expert team by calling 0207 190 9988 or emailing hellopts@protectedtrustservices.com, you’re unlocking all the tools your business needs to thrive, go on, don’t be shy!