A significant share of travel activities historically has been booked offline and in-destination. But advance bookings are increasing as more activities become discoverable and bookable online, making pre-booking easier. In addition, many pre-trip activity bookers simply like having everything planned before they leave for their trip. Recent travel market research explores the U.S. travel activities market and consumer behavior.

Travel is an experience. Active travelers, those who participate in travel activities, are a passionate subset who place high importance on travel. Travel is a key part of their life, and they take more trips and spend more on travel annually than the average leisure traveler. According to Phocuswright's newly published travel research report, travel activities account for 8% of U.S. travel gross bookings and the segment comes in third by size behind hotels and flights.

Phocuswright has been tracking the digital travel startup landscape since 2008, and our annual State of Travel Startups reports have been published since 2012. Digital travel has undergone tremendous transformation over the last three decades. At every stage of product, technology and platform evolution, startups have led - and continue to lead - the wave of disruption in the travel industry.

Phocuswright's newly published travel research report offers a high-level view of the Indian travel market, with focus on need-to-know developments, trends and stories. Here are the key developments impacting the market now ...

The travel industry is no stranger to the ebb and flow of change. Consumer travel behavior has seen massive shifts with technological developments. Travelers are dreaming, researching, shopping and booking travel across devices and being led into the funnel through various advertising channels. The travel industry has bounced back after a few difficult years, and advertising budgets are likewise rising. U.S. advertising spend will reach $7.6B in 2018 and European ad spend will reach $4.6B - rising right alongside revenue growth. Read on for the key takeaways from recent Phocuswright travel research.

According to a recent Phocuswright travel research report, U.S. airlines notched a second consecutive year of 5% revenue growth in 2018, fueled by steady capacity additions, an uptick in passenger volume, improved yield and growth in demand for ancillaries. Here are the four most notable trends and stories that are impacting the U.S. airline segment in 2019.

The verdict is in: Hotel loyalty rates are paying off – at least for some of the largest chains with robust loyalty programs. It's been roughly two years since many U.S. chains started offering lower rates to loyalty members, circumventing rate parity rules with OTAs. According to a new Phocuswright travel research report, U.S. Hotel & Lodging 2018: Key Developments, hotels are now catching up to OTAs in terms of online distribution. Meanwhile, after years of double-digit growth in OTA sales, gains will fall to single digits in 2019 and beyond.

A strong economy and high consumer confidence fueled strong travel performance in 2018. Phocuswright's recent travel research identifies four key developments that make the U.S. online travel agency (OTA) market an exciting one to watch in 2019.

New Phocuswright research has found the travel startup ecosystem is backed by more than 80 travel-focused accelerators, incubators, early-stage investors and entrepreneur support programs. The Phocuswright analyst team tracked the development of the sector over the course of the last half a decade and produced what could be the first comprehensive list and free download of organizations helping new businesses entering the travel industry. PhocusWire's editor in chief explores this new research with Michael Coletta, manager of research and innovation for Phocuswright in a Q&A format …

The European tour operator segment continued its comeback in 2018 despite challenges such as high cost and complexity of packages, digital platform growth, and OTA/supplier competition. Gross bookings are projected to climb 4%, with similar growth expected over the next several years, according to Phocuswright's recent travel research.