“I’ve noticed when you’re flying to countries within the African diaspora, there’s a sense that most of the people on the flight aren’t there for a holiday,” he says. “There is a sense of familiarity; it’s people traveling to London for work or traveling back for the same. They aren’t necessarily tourists.”
Bernard spends weeks to months at a time in the UK or Brazil, where regional genres like grime and baile funk are taking off. “Places like Brazil are leading nightlife, club culture, and underground music at the moment,” he tells Traveler. “There is a real DIY culture and community.”
Across the pond, North American passengers are flocking to South Korea as a top trending destination. One of the most popular airline routes in the US this summer was Los Angeles to Seoul, according to July 2025 data from OAG, an aviation analytics company.
For LA-based content creator Roger Who, traveling to Seoul has become essential for his work in the skincare and beauty space. Recent years have seen the K-beauty market explode in South Korea, in part thanks to treatments and services popularized by viral TikTok and Instagram videos. The boom has transformed business and tourism in the country: Over 1 million foreign patients traveled to South Korea from 2023 to 2024 for treatments including skincare procedures, medical services, and color analysis, per a Business of Fashion report.
Various airlines serving the Asia market are investing more in their US-South Korea connectivity. Air Premia—Who’s go-to airline—recently increased its LAX flight schedule from seven to 10 flights per week in March 2025. Meanwhile, Korean Air has increased passenger capacity on the route with larger Airbus A380 aircraft and plans to bump its weekly service to LAX from four to five flights starting in August 2025.
Over the last five years, the two cities have become the global capitals of the digital creator economy. “Both LA and Seoul have a really strong culture around appearance and self-care,” Who says. “In LA, we have this intersection of entertainment, wellness, and beauty, which creates an audience that looks for influencer-led discovery and beauty education. Seoul has this similar energy.”
While Who’s trips to Seoul are primarily work focused, he makes sure to carve out time for leisure as well. As with many modern careers in the digital age, the line between work and play is not always obvious: “Even when I’m going out with friends to do things completely unrelated to beauty, I often find myself wanting to film those moments because they’re just so cool or unique,” Who says.
As more young professionals combine business and leisure trips into single-ticket itineraries—a trend coined as bleisure—they’ve permanently shifted where and when business travel can take place. Previously, “a passenger flying alone on Monday morning without a checked bag was a business traveler, and two or more people on an itinerary involving a weekend was a leisure trip,” says Gary Leff, an aviation expert and Condé Nast Traveler travel specialist. “But now that weekend trip with a spouse or partner might start earlier in the week, include business, and extend into the weekend. The traditional Monday to Thursday business travel week for the consultant class is over.”
