Destination decision: new vs. repeat destination

Increasingly, travelers operate in an ongoing travel inspiration stage. For travel companies and destinations, more opportunities than ever before are available to engage customers with content. More opportunities are accessible to discover new destinations for consideration. Travelers who seek to visit a new destination will prioritize the places that they have always dreamt of seeing, ticking a box off their travel bucket list. According to Phocuswright’s travel research report Destination Decision: How Travelers Choose Where to Go, across the 7 markets studied, "always wanted to visit" was the top reason a traveler who visited a new destination on their last trip considered that location.

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However, destinations have an opportunity to attract repeat visitors. Those most willing to revisit a destination are those who had an exceptional prior experience. If enough time passes, they are also more likely to return. At least one in five travelers from each market revisited a destination because they had not been there in more than five years. If travelers experience a destination well-aligned to the attributes and desires they seek to fulfill, they are willing to return.

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Phocuswright's Destination Decision: How Travelers Choose Where to Go investigates how leisure travelers select their trip destinations and the different trip factors that influence the decision. The study examines travelers that took at least one trip to a destination they independently chose (as opposed to a destination where they visited family and friends, attended a social event, extended a business trip, etc.). Travelers from seven source markets were surveyed to understand their motivations, decision-making process and planning behaviors related to destination choice and to identify key differences by source country.

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