Arival, an information and insights provider for the in-destination experiences industry, published its latest study, The Global Attractions Traveler, last month in a collaboration with Phocuswright.
Survey data from more than 4,000 visitors from Europe and the United States have been compiled and analysed, helping the trend expert to uncover how travellers choose and book tourism destinations, how these preferences have evolved in the wake of the pandemic, and what this means for advertisers and attraction owners in 2023.
The study discovered, among other things, that tourists have been favouring guided, small-group, and private excursions and experiences and paying extra for them. The Covid-19 outbreak caused travel to be severely curtailed for two years, and this has significantly changed passengers’ tastes for attractions.
While tours are more common than tickets at attractions, Arival has identified three ways that attractions might change to appeal to visitors looking for guided experiences:
1) Offer special experiences or tours
In general, guided tours and experiences overtook the traditional top drivers of tourism visitation—iconic tourist and natural attractions—among both American and European tourists. However, as the data below illustrates, sightseeing continues to be the most attended kind of tour and has increased in popularity since before the epidemic.
This indicates that visitors are more likely to purchase a tour or guide in order to maximise their experience rather than simply purchasing an entry ticket. Finding methods to include more guided tours or one-of-a-kind experiences in their attraction offerings is one way that attractions might adjust to this.
2) Create strategic partnerships with regional tour operators
The majority of visitors buy stand-alone tickets directly from cultural institutions and museums. However, in 2022, a sizable portion of visitors, particularly those from the US, visited such places as part of a tour.
According to the graph below, almost half of Americans and one in three Europeans took a tour of a museum or cultural attraction in 2022.
Attractions should think about extending existing reseller ties with regional tour operators in order to take full advantage of this shift in traveller preferences.
3) Invest in self-guided tours
The study also revealed an increase in self-guided tours. Self-guided tours are becoming more and more popular among attraction visitors, and they’re even prepared to pay an additional fee for them.
In 2022, 31% of Americans and 1 in 4 Europeans will have paid for a self-guided smartphone audio tour when visiting an attraction.
According to the research, self-guided activities present attractions with a promising auxiliary business possibility.
Now available
In the most recent Global Attractions Traveler study from Arival, learn about the most recent trends in how tourists select and reserve attractions, how these tendencies have changed since the pandemic, and what this implies for attraction operators and marketers. The study may be obtained for $399 or is complementary with Insider Pro Access membership.
All Arival research is accessible to Insider Pro Access subscribers, along with many other advantages, starting at $179.
Headline photo – Pexels/Matheus Bertelli
