It’s official — experiences are the biggest influence on where travelers go and how long they stay in 2024.
Travel is back in a big way in 2024, and experiences are what travelers want most. The 2024 Travel Experience Trend Tracker report reveals that activities and things to do are at the very core of how people decide where to vacation and how long to stay.
As a tour operator, activity provider, or experience creator, paying attention to these insights is crucial for capturing more of the lucrative experiences market.
Here are a few highlights and what they mean for your business.
Download the full report here.
Experiences are the biggest influence on travel decisions.
The data speaks for itself. 98% of travelers said experiences are very or extremely important when choosing a destination.
Experiences are at the core of customers' traveler decisions - both when deciding where to go in the first place, or deciding how long to stay.
When asked what inspired them to pick a particular place, the top factors were:
- Practicalities like budget and time available
- The number and variety of experiences and things to do
As one respondent put it, they travel to places with "lots of things to see and do." Experiences aren't an afterthought - they're the main draw".
Experience category is the most resilient sector
Even amid economic headwinds, travelers are unwilling to cut spending on activities and experiences.
Global data from Deloitte confirms that in-destination experiences are amongst the areas where consumers are least willing to cut spending.
Across all markets surveyed, people said they were "less likely to cut spending on activities they wanted to do, vs. spending more on flights or accommodation."
This bodes well for experience creators. While other travel verticals may stagnate, the experiences economy is poised for continued growth. As the report concludes,
Travel experiences are the bellwether for understanding the health of the travel industry at large.
What’s trending in experiences? Water, food, culture, nature
There was a lot of fragmentation in terms of what respondents said they looked for when researching “things to do”, but we clustered the keywords into kay categories, and saw a general pattern emerge.
Waterfronts, nature, food, and culture are persistently raised as desirable, so where possible, experience creators should focus on highlighting this in their imagery and descriptions as much as possible.
Better yet, they can also ask their customers to leave reviews that mention these things to create a strong recommendation engine.
Explorers are the highest-value traveler segment
While all travelers love experiences, some segments are more valuable than others. The report identifies "Explorers" as the most lucrative group to target.
Explorers take 4+ leisure trips per year (vs. 2.8 for the average traveler) and are 53% more likely to spend more on activities than past trips. They prioritize authentic experiences, cultural immersion, and making lasting memories.
Crucially, Explorers overwhelmingly prefer to book experiences online, either directly or through third parties. The report found that GetYourGuide users were 148% more likely to book online than the average traveler.
By listing on GetYourGuide and other OTAs, experience creators can effectively reach and convert this high-value Explorer audience.
Highlight experiences very early on
The biggest insight is that experience planning happens well in advance — up to a quarter of the year before the trip takes place.
Promoting experiences only after a consumer has chosen their destination is leaving a lot of money on the table.
To maximize bookings, experience creators need to get in front of travelers right when they start planning their next trip.
Download the full report
By making your unforgettable experiences more discoverable from the very start of the travel planning journey, you can drive more visitors and revenue.
The experience economy is booming, and savvy operators have a massive opportunity to capture more of this demand. By understanding what today's travelers truly want, you can position your business for ongoing success.
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