Not every trip has to mean collecting a passport stamp. While international tourism has finally bounced back to pre-pandemic levels, many travelers are choosing to stay closer to home — everything from domestic road trips to weekend day trips to short-haul flights for a quick getaway. The appeal is simple: less time in transit, more time actually on vacation — though that only tells part of the story. Here are a few other reasons why closer-to-home trips are becoming the go-to choice for many travelers.
Rising Costs of Long-Haul Travel
While most things have gone back to normal post-pandemic, the prices of long-haul travel sure haven’t. International airfare remains high, with many popular routes still far more expensive than they were in 2019. Add in baggage fees, airport transfers, and travel insurance, and the total can quickly push a trip out of reach.
And it’s not just flights. In major global hubs, hotels and weekly rentals have outpaced inflation. A city-center stay in Paris, Tokyo, London, or Barcelona can cost hundreds of dollars a night, making even a short trip a non-starter. A two-hour drive or train ride eliminates airfare altogether, and smaller towns or second-tier cities often come with more reasonable accommodation costs. The savings can mean the difference between one week abroad or several weekend getaways closer to home.
Time Constraints
Vacation days are scarce, and most people want to maximize their time actually being away, not sitting in an airport or recovering from jet lag. Ten days might sound like enough for an international trip, but sometimes, it’s just not realistic. By cutting down transit time, travelers can make the most of the days they do have. Instead of spending two days adjusting, they can dive right into their plans.
Even a Friday afternoon departure can make a quick trip feel like a long three-day weekend while only using up a few vacation hours — or none at all if you’re lucky enough to sneak away a little early. That kind of convenience makes a big difference when you’re trying to balance travel with professional and family responsibilities.
Sustainability Concerns
The environmental cost of long-haul flights is becoming harder to ignore. Air travel accounts for a significant share of global carbon emissions, and more than ever, travelers are factoring that into their decisions about where to go. Choosing a destination that doesn’t require crossing an ocean is an easy way to reduce that impact.
As a result, trains, buses, and even regional road trips are growing in popularity, as they offer lower-carbon alternatives — not to mention, they usually come with the added benefit of being more affordable, especially for families. Not everyone is giving up flying altogether, but there’s a growing recognition that closer-to-home travel is the easier, more sustainable choice.
Hidden Gems in Your Own Backyard
One upside of staying close to home is realizing how much you’ve probably overlooked right in your own backyard. A two-hour drive might take you to a world-class restaurant, a hiking trail you’ve never explored, or a historic district you’ve never wandered through.
Rather than flying overseas or crossing the country for culture or adventure, travelers are finding similar experiences within their own region. Shorter trips also make it easier to travel more often instead of saving everything for one big, all-or-nothing annual vacation.
Post-Pandemic Habits
The pandemic reshaped travel behavior in ways that haven’t fully gone away. After years of restricted movement, many people still feel more comfortable not going too far from home. There’s also a practical side: Booking something nearby makes it easier to pivot if plans change at the last minute. Cancellations, delays, or shifting entry requirements were a constant for years, and that sense of instability hasn’t disappeared completely.
In some ways, the habit of introversion never wore off. For many people, smaller trips, less crowded destinations, and shorter itineraries continue to feel more manageable and appealing than big international undertakings.
A Desire for More Intentional Travel
The 2010s were defined by the Instagram photo bucket list: the farther you traveled from home, the more likes you received. Exotic backdrops and far-flung destinations became status symbols, with travel reduced to a highlight reel of famous landmarks and tropical water.
Fortunately, society is starting to push back on that idea — everyone now realizes that social media rarely shows the jet lag, the missed connections, or the underwhelming reality that sometimes, after spending thousands of dollars to fly halfway around the world, the payoff doesn’t always match the hype. This shift doesn’t mean people have stopped traveling abroad, but it does mean the appeal of traveling just for the sake of saying you’ve been somewhere is fading, and that more travelers are choosing more authentic, intentional experiences that just might be closer to home.
Safety and Stability
Global uncertainty has also nudged people toward destinations that feel more predictable. Everything from geopolitical tensions to natural disasters has made the risk of disruptions on long-haul trips feeling higher than ever. Staying local reduces many of those variables — there is no visa paperwork, currency exchange rate fluctuations, or sudden border closures to worry about.
Many travelers also feel more confident navigating destinations where the language, healthcare, and culture are at least somewhat familiar, making domestic travel all the more appealing. Not only does this lessen the perceived risk, but it provides the opportunity to relax — which is, after all, the whole point of taking a vacation in the first place.
The shift toward closer-to-home travel isn’t only about saving money or passing up on 10-hour flights — it reflects a broader change in how people are thinking about travel from a higher level. Local getaways reduce stress and avoid the unpredictability of international travel, while also making it possible to travel more often instead of waiting all year for one big trip. With this new mindset, value isn’t measured in miles traveled, but by how enjoyable an experience was — a perspective that just might make this a trend that lasts for a while.
Emily is a freelance writer who has been traveling full-time for over five years She has visited dozens of countries but can often be found in Spain and Mexico. In her Substack, Extracurricular Pursuits, she shares personal essays and travel stories that document the quirks, chaos and realities of living abroad.