Nostalgic holidays boom takes travellers back to 1990s and beyond

Millennials are flocking to the destinations from their childhoods, keen to recreate those treasured holiday memories with their own children. Some are going all-in on the 90s nostalgia.

When I was a kid, travel meant sleeping in the annex of my grandparents’ caravan, pooling coins for icy poles, and fishing for bream off the jetty.

No overwater villas at manicured camping “resorts”. Queuing at the airport? Forget it. If we went anywhere, it was in the car with a bag of Allen’s Snakes between my brother and me, and Billy Joel or Fleetwood Mac turned up high.

A handful of grainy photos capture other travel memories from childhood – timestamps from a diving trip (for Dad) to Lady Elliot Island, a school exchange to Japan, and the time we sailed around the Whitsundays for a week and shucked oysters off the rocks. Without quite realising it, I’ve harboured a soft spot for those destinations my entire adult life and now with young kids of my own, they’re just three of the travel experiences I hope to recreate for them.

It’s not just me. A new wave of nostalgia is sweeping itineraries as travellers press replay on fond memories. Travel software company Amadeus and forecasting agency Globetrender call the trend “new heydays”, and as a millennial staring down the barrel of middle age, I’m the core demographic. Recent research from Hilton also found 58 per cent of travellers with kids will revisit destinations from their own childhood this year. “Recreating memories” is the motivation, but could it be deeper than that?

We’re seeking wholesome joy – the kind that comes from low-key camping spots and old modes of transport (like Hire a Kombi on the Great Ocean Road).

My sense is we’re yearning for simpler times. Pre-social media times. When a holiday felt like an escape, not a quest to be seen in the hottest spots. We’re seeking wholesome joy – the kind that comes from low-key camping spots, old modes of transport (like Hire a Kombi on the Great Ocean Road), and analogue activities – bike rides and board games, anyone? Amadeus and Globetrender call this “rosy retrospection”.

The ’90s in particular are inspiring a return to pre-digital travel. Oasis is touring, cassettes are making a comeback, and just outside Joshua Tree in California, at That ’90s Place (on Airbnb), you can sleep below a Spice Girls poster and watch The Mask on VHS. It’s a niche indie version of the continued motel revival along Australia’s east coast (The Shores Miami on the Gold Coast is the latest retro reopening).

The Shores Miami on the Gold Coast is the latest retro reopening. Picture: Supplied.

As well as taking their kids to beloved childhood spots, adults are reliving gap years or returning to honeymoon destinations for a dose of dopamine driven by nostalgia. Adult summer camps are on the rise in the US, and in the UK, families can camp out on Enid Blyton’s “Whispering Island” – aka Brownsea – from Five Have a Mystery to Solve, or turn back the clock on a narrow-boat holiday through the canals (hire one through Drifters).

As I hurtled down the tarp water slide at Hosanna Farmstay on the Tweed Coast last year, I could almost see the experience being imprinted on my children’s minds as they splashed about in tyre tubes in the dam.

As I hurtled down the tarp water slide at Hosanna Farmstay, I could almost see the experience being imprinted on my children’s minds. Picture: Supplied.

Nostalgia means different things to everyone. It might be having high tea under a chandelier like you did once with your grandmother, or hitting the roller rink, say. Whatever it is, grab yourself a vintage digital camera – Gen Z are all about their less-polished aesthetic – and take two on some core memories this year.

Me? It’s 20 years since I landed in London with an overstuffed backpack and while I’ll skip the Generator Hostel this trip, the thought of the kids on their first double-decker bus ride is already filling me with joy.

Originally published as Nostalgic holidays boom takes travellers back to 1990s and beyond