The global travel experiences market is continuing to grow, with travellers increasingly prioritising what they can see and do once they arrive at a destination. But while travellers are packing multiple tours, activities and attractions into their holidays, new research suggests they aren’t necessarily spending more to do it.
The Travel Experiences 2026: Market Sizing, Operator and Consumer Behaviour Highlights report from Arival and Phocuswright forecasts the global travel experiences market will reach US$288 billion in gross bookings in 2026, up from US$253 billion in 2024. By 2029, that figure is expected to reach US$342 billion.
The findings point to a travel sector that has not only recovered from the pandemic but is now growing faster than the wider travel industry.
Travel experiences have bounced back
Tours, activities and attractions were among the areas of travel hardest hit during the pandemic. According to the report, global experience bookings fell from US$253 billion in 2019 to just US$56 billion in 2020.
By 2024, the market had finally returned to its 2019 level of US$253 billion. More significantly, experiences grew by 17% during 2024, compared with growth of 6% across the wider travel industry. That rapid post-pandemic rebound is now beginning to settle, with the experiences market forecast to grow by around 6% annually between 2026 and 2029.
Even so, Arival and Phocuswright say there are increasing signs travellers don’t simply want to arrive at a destination and spend their entire holiday beside the pool or on the beach. Tours, activities and attractions are becoming an important part of the overall holiday itinerary.
Travellers are packing multiple experiences into each trip
The research suggests travellers aren’t limiting themselves to just one tour or attraction while they’re away. Among US travellers who participated in each category, the average recent trip included 4.3 tours, 4.6 activities and 4.7 attractions.
European travellers recorded slightly lower numbers, averaging 3.5 tours, 4.1 activities and four attractions. Interestingly, US travellers fitted more experiences into their holidays despite taking shorter trips on average – 7.1 nights compared with 8.3 nights for European travellers.
For tourism operators, this could be significant. Rather than competing for the only experience a traveller purchases during a holiday, there may be opportunities to capture visitors who are actively looking for several things to do within the same destination.
But travellers aren’t necessarily spending more
While participation remains strong, spending on experiences hasn’t increased significantly. In the US, average spending per person on tours was US$251 on a recent trip in 2025. This is exactly the same as in 2023, after dipping to US$240 in 2024. Spending on activities increased from US$279 in 2024 to US$287 in 2025, while attraction spending rose from US$163 to US$186.
The picture was more mixed in Europe. Average spending per person on tours fell slightly from €165 in 2024 to €161 in 2025, while attraction spending dropped more substantially from €199 to €126. Activities bucked the trend, with average spending increasing from €135 to €149.
Arival suggests these spending patterns could reflect travellers being more cautious due to economic pressures or choosing to maintain the number of experiences they have while opting for less expensive options. Travellers may also simply be directing more of their holiday budget towards other costs.
Either way, the findings suggest that demand for experiences remains strong even while travellers are conscious of how much they spend.
What experiences are travellers choosing?
Sightseeing remains one of the most popular choices on both sides of the Atlantic.
Among US travellers surveyed, 42% had participated in a sightseeing tour, while 40% had taken part in a culinary tour or class and the same percentage had visited a cultural site or landmark. European travellers were particularly interested in culture, with 47% visiting a cultural site or landmark, 43% taking a sightseeing tour and 38% visiting a museum.
There were some notable differences between the two markets. Spa, wellness and yoga experiences were more popular among European travellers, at 33% compared with 23% of US travellers. Culinary tours and classes showed the opposite pattern, attracting 40% of US travellers compared with 32% of Europeans.
Natural attractions, festivals, museums, concerts and organised outdoor excursions also featured prominently in travellers’ holiday activities.
Experiences still have an online booking problem
Despite the size of the sector, booking a tour or attraction remains surprisingly old-school compared with booking other parts of a holiday. Only 33% of experiences were estimated to have been booked online in 2025, compared with 64% of the overall travel market.
In 2026, the online share of experience bookings is forecast to increase to 36%, but that still sits well behind the 65% forecast for travel overall. One reason is the fragmented nature of the industry.
More than 70% of experience operators are small or micro-businesses, and many tours and activities are run by highly local operators. That makes bringing inventory online more complicated than in sectors dominated by large airlines, hotel groups or cruise companies.
Offline bookings remain important for travellers too. Around one in five surveyed travellers under the age of 55 booked an experience by walking up to the provider or ticket office, increasing to 24% among travellers aged 55 and over.
Travellers are planning experiences before they arrive
While experiences aren’t booked as far ahead as flights or accommodation, the research challenges the idea that travellers simply decide what to do once they reach their destination. Depending on age and region, only 12% to 30% of experiences were booked on the same day. Having holiday plans organised in advance was one of the biggest motivations for booking early.
Among US travellers, 48% of attraction customers who booked ahead said they wanted to have plans in place, while 45% already knew they wanted that particular experience. Availability also matters. Between 27% and 34% of US travellers, depending on the experience category, said concern that spots might not be available was one reason they booked in advance.
For operators and destinations, that suggests the opportunity to reach travellers starts well before they arrive.
Experiences are becoming a bigger part of the holiday
The global travel experiences sector still faces challenges, particularly when it comes to online distribution and competing for a share of travellers’ increasingly stretched holiday budgets. But the direction of the market is clear.
Global bookings are forecast to climb from US$288 billion in 2026 to US$342 billion by 2029, while travellers who participate in tours, activities and attractions are already booking several of them during a single trip.
For destinations and tourism operators, the opportunity isn’t simply convincing travellers to do something once they arrive. It’s making sure their experience is one of the several activities travellers decide is worth making room for in both their itinerary and their holiday budget.
The Travel Experiences 2026 report was produced by Arival and Phocuswright. Consumer findings cited in this article are based on research conducted among 800 US travellers and 1,750 travellers across the UK, France, Germany and Spain who met the study’s qualifying criteria.
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