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Travellers are looking for a bit of outdoor adventure on holiday, but are determined to steer clear of destinations they associate with “extreme” weather.
That’s according to World Travel Market (WTM) and Oxford Economics (OE), whose report on global tourism trends was recently presented at an industry conference in London.
Finding affluent or middle-class travellers to be increasingly “more open to adventure, thrill-seeking and extreme experiences,” WTM and OE said that “thrillseekers” with money to burn are booking trips involving the likes of skydiving, mountaineering and whitewater rafting.
At the same time, many still continue to opt for “low risk, limited experience” activities such as hiking or cycling.
There could be continued demand for “fresh” places to visit that could give a boost to tourism in countries such as Serbia and Armenia, according to the Travellers seemingly want to “tick off those exciting bucket-list activities with the ‘frontier’ travel trend we’ve been seeing,” according to WTM’s Juliette Lozardo.
So-called “bleisure” trips – work trips with elements of a holiday woven in – are likely to become more popular as business travel returns to levels last seen before the imposition of Covid border closures and lockdowns in 2020.
“Business travelers today extend their stays, increase their spending, and blend work with leisure time — thanks in part to more flexible remote working options,” Oxford Economics’ Tourism Economics team said, explaining the industry’s latest buzzword.
But for younger travellers, the sense of adventure or hunt for extremes only goes so far, with almost half of 18-34 year-olds admitting they go out of their way to places where they fear the weather could take a turn for the worse.
The WTM/OE findings followed Expedia recently reporting a rise in travellers opting for “detour” destinations a day trip or less from the busier and more popular spots – such as the French city of Reims, about an hour or two from Paris.
In another recent industry overview, Booking.com said there could be continued interest in nocturnal tourism in the wake of recent solar and lunar eclipses and headline-making displays of aurora borealis.
