Travel Experiences 2026: Market Sizing, Operator and Consumer Behavior Highlights

Summary

Travel Experiences 2026: Market Sizing, Operator and Consumer Behavior Highlights, produced jointly by Phocuswright and Arival, sizes and forecasts the global experiences market through 2029, and examines how consumers engage with experiences in practice. In particular, it explores how often travelers in the U.S. and Europe book tours, activities and attractions, what they spend, which types of experiences are most popular and how booking behavior differs by region, age and category. It also looks at the sector’s uneven shift online, the continued role of offline and in-person booking and the structural factors that make experiences more difficult to digitize than other areas of travel. As experiences become a more established part of trip planning, the next phase of growth will depend not only on demand, but on whether operators and platforms can better align distribution, booking behavior and technology with the way travelers actually discover and purchase in-destination experiences.

Key questions addressed by this report include:

• How large is the global travel experiences sector, and how is it projected to grow in the coming years?
• How do U.S. and European travelers incorporate tours, activities and attractions into their trips?
• Which types of experiences are most popular in the U.S. and Europe, and what do those patterns reveal about traveler preferences?
• How do booking windows and purchase timing for experiences differ from other travel components such as air and lodging?
• What portion of the experiences sector has moved online, and why do offline and in-person bookings remain so important?
• How do experience booking behaviors differ by age group, region and experience type?