Tourists Ditch Shopping Sprees for Big Nights Out Since Pandemic

International tourism spending on experiences is quickly outpacing spending on "things" since July 2021, according to a new travel report by the Mastercard Economics Institute.

As of April 2022, global tourism spending at bars and nightclubs is 72 percent over the levels recorded in April 2019, while spending at amusement parks, museums, and concerts is reaching 35 percent above pre-pandemic numbers. By comparison, tourist spending on apparel, department stores, cosmetics and other retail categories is down compared to 2019, with a 27 percentage point difference currently sitting between experience and "thing" discretionary spending.

“The inflection point globally was around June 2021, when experiences really started to overshadow the purchases of things,” said Mastercard chief economist Bricklin Dwyer. “If you think about the supply chain disruption that was going on, there was a momentum of buying more things that created an additional distortion in supply chains. Now, people are really seeking out experiences, which is exactly the trend that we saw pre-pandemic.”

In 2019, during peak seasons of tourism spending in restaurants, international tourism restaurant spending was about 22 percent of total in-person spending, excluding tr