Travel Unpacked: Where to holiday in 2025, UK lights up for Halloween and Etihad's new India flights

It's almost spooky season as we look ahead to Halloween , and the UK is going all out for the holiday with destinations hosting festivals, inflatable monsters and more. Travellers planning ahead to next year might want to consider a trip to Italy, Estonia or Cambodia, all of which rank in Skyscanner's trending 2025 list. And there are new flights in the air for Etihad and AJet. Here's a round-up of recent travel and tourism news – in case you missed it. Travellers planning ahead for holidays next year might want to take note of Skyscanner's latest report. The online flight search engine has unveiled its list of trending destinations for 2025, with Reggio Calabria in Italy taking the top spot. Destinations in the Philippines and India also ranked as popular choices for the coming year. Analysing flight searches for 2024 compared to the previous year, Skyscanner revealed that the Italian Mediterranean province, renowned for its culture, coastline and cultural diversity, saw a whopping 541 per cent increase in flight searches over the past 12 months. Tartu in Estonia ranked second in the report, with flight searches up 294 per cent. Located in the east of the country, the second-largest city in Estonia, after capital Tallinn, is home to one of the oldest universities in the Baltic states and was named the European Capital of Culture for 2024. Cambodia's Siem Reap rounds up the top three, with the temple-filled spot seeing flight searches increase by 241 per cent. Having recovered from a tough Covid-19 lockdown, the destination is famed for its sprawling Angkor Wat and also offers travellers wellness, culture and history. Panglao Island, located in the province of Bohol, ranked eighth on the list, with the Filipino destination seeing a 77 per cent increase in flight searches. And India's Thiruvananthapuram, round out the top nine list with the gateway to Kerala seeing an increase of 66 per cent. Other top trending destinations include Baltimore, Portsmouth in Dominica, Cordoba, Tromso and Stuttgart. Turkish airline AJet has added flights from Istanbul to Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and Egypt. The budget arm of Turkish Airlines is now flying from Sabiha Gokcen Airport to Jeddah, Riyadh, Madinah and Dammam in Saudi Arabia. It has also added five flights per week to the Egyptian resort cities of Sharm El Sheikh and Hurghada , as well as daily flights to Bahrain. The new routes are set to cater to tourists heading to Egypt's popular Red Sea resorts, to commercial and religious travellers flying to Saudi Arabia and to cater to growing Bahrain-Turkish relations. Aimed at cost-conscious travellers, the airline launched in March this year and offers no-frills air travel to 95 destinations across 32 countries. Things are getting spooky in the UK this month as several destinations across the country light up for Halloween . In Kew, the first-ever Halloween light trail will transform the Unesco World Heritage Site with twinkling lights, fire performers and laser shows. Running from Friday until November 3, the 1.5km trail has a possessed pumpkin farm, a spider web light tunnel, a laser garden and a monsters' lair. Live fire performances will take place each evening. In Manchester, visitors can get in the spooky spirit with week-long Halloween in the City celebrations. The event runs from October 25 to 31, and visitors can expect giant balloon monsters on city centre rooftops, pumpkin lanterns and an eight-metre-long inflatable monster called The Leech. And in Scotland, Glasgow's Botanic Gardens are also turning ghostly for the season. GlasGlow returns to the historic landmark and this year's theme is Trick or Treat. Visitors can explore 10 distinct spaces from the BoneYard to the Haunted House. Alongside more than 9,000 plants, visitors can also try their hand at pumpkin picking and smore making. Travellers flying between Abu Dhabi and Jaipur will soon have more options for air travel. Etihad Airlines is adding six new flights per week between the destinations starting from December 15. Famously called the “pink city” for its standout architecture, Jaipur is the capital and biggest city of the north-western Indian state of Rajasthan . It offers a kaleidoscope of forts, palaces and bustling bazaars, all steeped in history and regal charm. The walled city is also a Unesco World Heritage Site. Its architecture aside, Jaipur pulsates with vibrant cultural energy, best experienced by getting lost in its labyrinthine streets. Etihad's network adjustment will mean that the national airline of the UAE is operating 10 times per week to the South Asian destination that is part of India's well-travelled golden triangle route. The network expansion comes after the airline first launched flights to Jaipur from Abu Dhabi in June, proving the route's popularity.

Travel Unpacked: Where to holiday in 2025, UK lights up for Halloween and Etihad's new India flights

The National rounds up the most interesting tourism news you might have missed