punta Cana, RD.- since 2023 is definitely the year back to normal For tourism globally, we wanted to check if the changes in travel behavior detected after the pandemic will remain the same or if they will really return to traditional tourism activities.
To obtain this answer, Mabrian has analyzed the spontaneous behavior and preferences of travelers worldwide using Social Listening. This methodology is based on Big Data and Artificial Intelligence (Natural Language Processing) techniques to analyze more than 400 million interactions related to tourism on Social Networks during the observed period (first half of 2019 to first half of 2023).
The results of this study were presented during the webinar organized by AVIAREPS titled Changing traveler behavior and trends where in addition to Mabrian's study, Marriott International and Qatar Tourism presented their ideas on the matter.
The main conclusion that emerges from the study is that experiential activities or motivations are replacing conventional travel motivations. For experiential reasons, the activities considered are related to Wellbeing, Active and Lifestyle, Nature and Food and Cooking. On the other hand, conventional travel motivations have been defined as Art and Culture, Sunbathing, Family, Shopping and Nightlife activities.
By dividing these motivations into two different blocks, the data shows how experiential activities have increased 10 percentage points in the last 4 years ahead of conventional activities. In June 2023, the proportion of experiential motivations is already almost 50/50, which is very significant, considering that in June 2019 only Art, Culture and Sunbathing represented 41% of travel motivations.
“The way we travel is constantly changing. From the traditional vacations of sunbathing in coastal destinations and culture and shopping in the cities, to disconnecting and discovering experiences where connection with the environment and with ourselves is key. “There is an obvious impact of the pandemic and the effect of confinement that made us realize how important it is to enjoy the outdoors and feel good and healthy during our free time, which has been engraved in the motivations of travelers,” Carlos Cendra, marketing and communication director of Mabrian.
The activities that have increased the most during these years, reaching unprecedented levels of interest, are Active & Lifestyle, Nature and Wellbeing. Regarding the first two, the data show a clear turning point starting in 2021, corroborating the effects of the pandemic on this type of motivations to travel. Wellness has also seen stable growth since 2019.
On the other hand, the conventional activities that have lost the most importance are Art and Culture and Sunbathing, which now represent only 34% of travel motivations, losing 7 percentage points since 2019.
It is essential that destinations and tourism companies quickly detect new global trends among travelers, working at the same time to offer a tourism product that is as diversified as possible and in line with new trends. The high dependence on specific tourism products causes inefficiencies related to a high dependence on certain source markets and high patterns of seasonality. These factors are of great importance when promoting the sustainability of the destination .