In The Independent’s new travel trends column, Trendwatch, we dig into the types of trip, modes of transport and top buzzwords to watch out for.
When I heard about the “mystery trips” trend, my first thought was: surely this is the polar opposite of a bucket list?
Far from methodically ticking off places they’ve been dreaming of going – the traditional way many of us have always chosen our holidays – some travellers are now throwing caution to the wind and paying to go, well, anywhere.
This quirky travel trend sees people sign up for a holiday, usually specifying how long, active, expensive or far-flung they want it to be – but then leave the tour operator in total control of everything else, from destination to number of stops and daily activities.
Last week, Norwegian specialist Up Norway announced that it is now selling mystery trips to the country. Although – surprise! – all trips are to Norway, and customers choose how long they will be there for, they only find out which regions, hotels and sights they will see when they arrive.
It’s surfing a wave that first crested four years ago, as bespoke tour companies looked for ways to tempt customers with unique “surprise and delight” tactics.
People sign up for a holiday, usually specifying how long, active, expensive or far-flung they want it to be – but then leave the tour operator in total control of everything else
Wix Squared launched package trips to mystery locations in 2018, while Make My Day launched mystery city tours in 2019.
Last spring, Qantas launched mystery flights to Aussie destinations within a two-hour radius; while start-ups such as honeymoons specialist Blind Experiences, “trip matchmakers” Journee, and US-based Pack Up & Go have also unveiled similar concepts.
Srprs.me – which offers mystery city breaks departing from six UK airports and one Irish one – has seen demand steadily increasing, with suprise break spend up 14 per cent in March 2022 from March 2019.
However, it turns out that Up Norway’s interest in the mystery tour is more rooted in its homeland than you’d think.
“In Norway, we’ve long had a concept called blåtur, meaning ‘into the blue’. It’s often a trip that is organised by a friend or a family member, and most people going don’t know where they’re going or what they’ll be doing,” says founder Torunn Tronsvang.
Companies routinely send their employees off on a blåtur jaunt to bond, with none of them having any idea where they’re going.
With this tradition in mind, before launching completely surprise itineraries, Up Norway had dabbled in shorter-span mystery days and excursions within its trips, such as foodie days out.
Then the past two years happened. In recent months, Tronsvang says, she has noticed a new wave of customers throwing their hands up and saying “Surprise me”.
“People are sick of planning and failing, and planning again,” she suggests. “The role of the travel agent seems to be back in fashion. People want a trusted person to give them the best recommendations, the best advice. Now more than ever, they’re willing to hand over the power.”
The founder of surprise-trip pioneer Wix Squared, Alex Wix, agrees. Far from being off-putting, the ‘anywhere’ factor is suddenly a real draw.
People are sick of planning and failing, and planning again. The role of the travel agent seems to be back in fashion
“People just want to go somewhere – they’ve got fed up with not being able to fly,” she says. “Previously, people would say, ‘I want to go here on holiday’ – now people increasingly say, ‘Where can I go that’s easy?’”
Prior to launching her company’s mystery tours to exotic locations such as Morocco and Sri Lanka, she had a background as a destination expert at multiple travel companies.
“I’ve always liked to put a little surprise into itineraries. If a client was into birdwatching, we might put a little pair of binoculars into the room, or throw in a birdwatching excursion. So why not go a step further?” she says.
She has perfected the art of getting someone’s tastes down before booking their tour itinerary.
“I had some clients who didn’t want to know where they were going at all. I’d do sort of quickfire questions – coffee or tea, cats or dogs? – to get a sense of what they’d like.”
In the most extreme cases, the holidaymaker only finds out at the airport where their plane is heading. The surprise factor can be amped up or dialled down as much as the customer wants.
“In some cases, it’s day by day – or really hour by hour,” Alex explains. “Outside your hotel room you might find a picnic basket saying ‘Take this with you’ – then be met by a driver to whisk you off somewhere, with no idea where you’re doing later that afternoon.”
Of course, she says, people can request as much downtime as they like – there’s nothing to prevent mystery travellers having a day by the pool here and there.
There’s also an increased excitement element to a mystery trip. Start-up Blind Experiences, founded by Chiara Mascarucci, Andrea Lazzarini Viti and Fabio Prestijacopo, talks about an “excitement curve” leading up to its trips.
Their theory is that just under halfway through a holiday, we start thinking about the prospect of going home again, and the excitement curve starts to dip. But if there are still surprises to be uncovered during the trip, the curve continues going upwards.
Previously people would say, ‘I want to go here on holiday’ - now people increasingly say, ‘Where can I go that’s easy?’
Partly influenced by a psychology book called Surprise: Embrace the Unpredictable and Engineer the Unexpected by Tania Luna, the company keeps the curve heading upwards by giving travellers a series of envelopes to be opened on specific dates, well into the trip.
“There has always been some level of mystery involved in travel, no matter how well planned a trip is – it’s often the unknown that adds to the excitement of it all,” says Anneke Nijenhuis, who holds the excellent title of chief surprise officer at Srprs.me.
“For some, it’s not just the evening restaurant they want to leave to chance – full-on mystery is needed to really shake off the everyday and explore a new destination – and for others small doses of spontaneity are best.”
For mystery trips to work, both Tronsvang and Wix say the right location is essential.
Norway suits a mystery tour, says Tronsvang, because it’s perceived as incredibly safe, but also innately mysterious. On the World Economic Forum’s Travel & Tourism Competitiveness Index, Norway typically ranks fairly low – in 2019 it was at number 20, below New Zealand and South Korea and well below better known nations such as Spain and France.
Meanwhile, Wix says Morocco and Sri Lanka suit the purpose because they require few internal flights – an aspect of a tour that’s much trickier and more cumbersome to line up as a surprise. In these nations, you can have a driver show up to ferry your clients to their mystery next stop.
It’s vital, she adds, that you have the right people on the ground - be that tour guides, drivers or hotel staff – to help move the mystery journey along and drop each bit of information at the right time.
At the mega-luxe end of things, tour operator Black Tomato is also getting in on the mystery trip game – with a bit of a twist. Its extreme “get lost” concept gives hardcore intrepid types an opportunity to test their mettle by getting dropped in a mystery overseas location.
They set off not knowing where they’re going and find themselves marooned in a remote landscape with only a guide, compass and essentials to help them find their way out.
Inspired by the adage, “Sometimes you need to get lost to find yourself”, trips cost up to £10k, or even £15k.
It’s more of a mental challenge than anything else: the operator says Get Lost can “help people to disconnect, engage in the moment and push themselves to achieve a truly rewarding sense of satisfaction”.
Overall, this movement feels like a fairly natural progression for a time-poor, cash-rich travel crowd that wants to put its trust in an expert with the maximum depth of knowledge – as well as shaking up our concept of a holiday following months of burnout or obstacles to international travel.
As Alex Wix puts it: “You come to a tour operator to have them take some of that trip-planning pressure off you – so why not have them take all of it?”
