Skift Survey: Consumers Are Asking for Packages Beyond Packaged Travel

As we set about working on the report The Rise of Experiential Travel, we decided to get some survey data on how today’s consumers are thinking about booking travel and tours and working with local companies.

We turned to Google Consumer Surveys and polled U.S. and U.K. adult Internet users on their travel habits. Some of the answers are instructive on what we want out of our travels.

Note: Below is an extract from our brand new FREE report, The Rise of Experiential Travel, download the report here for free, to get the full goodness!

For the U.S. and UK consumers who have traveled internationally in the last year for vacations, it is clear that overall they’re looking to travel with friends and family and use local firms in the destination they’re going to. It is more prevalent in U.S. than in U.K., where historically big packaged tour companies like Thompson and TUI have ruled the roost.

For U.S. travelers, only 6.4 percent are looking for the safety of big U.S. tour/travel brands anymore, our survey shows. The majority would like to book local, in a nod to the experiential travel needs. In the UK, that number is 16 percent, while the rest would prefer booking local.

Below, see the U.S. chart, followed by the UK chart, for overall results.

Digging a little deeper into the survey, it is the older travelers that are still going for safety, while the younger travelers are thinking about local tour firms, to give them more authentic, deeper travel experiences. Both U.S. and UK survey numbers reflect that.

Get a peek below, and download the full report here, free!

Download the Report, Free!