2026: Going Public. Going Global. Going Big.

Here we go again — my annual look at what’s shaping the destination experiences sector. Every year I take stock of how this industry is shifting under our feet, what’s speeding up, and what’s quietly becoming the next big thing. These aren’t predictions for 2026. These are the trends that actually moved the needle in 2025 — and the ones I believe will matter even more as we head into a new year.

And this year’s theme practically wrote itself:

Going Public. Going Global. Going Big.

While experiences have been on the radar of the wider travel industry landscape for a few years now, this is the first time our sector is really making waves in the public markets. Klook in Hong Kong and MyRealTrip in Seoul both filed for IPOs — a milestone we’ve never seen in destination experiences. This is more than a headline; it’s the market finally saying out loud what many of us have been saying for years: this industry is real, it’s scaled, and it’s ready for prime time.

So who’s next? GetYourGuide feels like the obvious candidate but rumor has it they prefer to keep their heads down and focus on profitable execution for now. Would anyone be shocked if Tripadvisor spun out Viator? Or if TUI let Musement fly solo? Meanwhile, consolidation is running hot: Expedia scooped up Tiqets, and Peek put its $70M raise to immediate use by acquiring ACME Ticketing and Connect&Go. The platform chessboard is getting interesting.

And yes — OTAs remain the sector’s dominant growth engine. Viator, GetYourGuide, Klook, TUI, Headout… all trending up on both revenue and profitability. The battle for traveler attention is fierce, and distribution power continues to concentrate.

But the breakout trend of 2025? Social Commerce.

We’re moving  past “vertical video is the new search.” TikTok, Reels, and Shorts are now fully fledged booking funnels for those who know how to take advantage. The leap from “that looks cool” to “I’m going” has collapsed to a single swipe.

A Few Extras Worth Mentioning

My Experience This! co-host Lori Timony insists Reddit belongs somewhere on this list and she’s right. If you’re not paying attention to Reddit to ensure your products are showing up there, it will definitely impact your Generative Engine Optimization (GEO) . Lori also lobbied hard to bring back Luxury Travel’s continued surge. The only issue? Neither of us could decide which trend to remove. So for now, those stay as strong honorable mentions.

And a Note on Multi-Day Tours

Multi-day isn’t “new.” What’s new is the moment we’re in right now: a clear tipping point where multi-day operators are investing heavily in tech, distribution, connectivity, and everything digital. That’s why Arival is doubling down here. The segment is modernizing fast — and the opportunity is huge.

Before we dive in, here’s the thing about this year’s trends: they aren’t hype, they aren’t guesses, and they aren’t wish lists. These are the real shifts we watched unfold across operators, platforms, tech providers, investors, and yes, across thousands of conversations in the Arival community.

So let’s get into it.

THE TOP 10 TRENDS OF 2025 → HEADING INTO 2026

	2023	2024	2025
11			Multi-Day Tours (Bonus!)
10	Outdoors Rules	What Happens Next with the New U.S. Administration?	Transformational Travel
9	Immersive Experiences	OTAs Driving Growth	OTAs Continue to Drive Growth
8	DEI and Sustainability	Sustainability and Immersive Cultural Experiences Create Meaningful Travel	Culinary Experiences: Food Tours, Breweries, Wineries, Distilleries & Cooking Classes
7	Less Trips, More Experiences	Experiences Driving Destination Choice	Dynamic Pricing
6	Dynamic Pricing	Luxury Travel Dominating	Social Commerce
5	OTAs Continue to Dominate Growth	Connectivity	U.S. Operators Suffer Without Canadians, Europeans & INTL Travelers
4	Experiences Driving Destination Choice	Private Tours	The Great AI Distribution Debate: Who wins direct or intermediaries?
3	Short Form Video	Google Things to do	AI-Powered Search & Discovery: Visibility in LLMs, Google’s SGE, ChatGPT, Perplexityi
2	Google Things to do	Short Form Video	AI for mid-office and back office efficiencies
1	Generative AI: Content Generation & Customer Experience	Generative AI: AI Agents, AI Search, Not Quite There Yet	Going Public! IPOs, Acquisitions & Consolidation

ARIVAL 360 | SPOKANE

13-16 Oct 2026

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11. (Bonus!) – Multi-Day Tours

This isn’t a “new trend.” It’s a new moment. Multi-day operators are hitting a genuine tipping point: real investment in tech, distribution, API connectivity, and digital everything. That’s why Arival is leaning in harder than ever — because this segment is finally modernizing at scale. Whoever solves connectivity at scale for multi-day will win big over the next few years.

10. Transformational Travel (Thanks, Joe Pine!)

Travelers want meaning, purpose, and experiences that change them — not just entertain them. Joe Pine and the transformation movement have pushed our industry to think bigger, and in 2025 more operators leaned into depth, learning, and personal growth. This isn’t fading; it’s accelerating. Joe Pine’s new book on The Transformation Economy comes out in 2026, I can’t read to plow through it.

9. OTAs Continue to Drive Growth

Some things don’t slow down. OTAs are one of them for Destination Experiences.
Viator, GetYourGuide, Klook, TUI Musement, Headout — all up on revenue and profitability. They remain the sector’s strongest demand engine. Smart operators treat OTAs as high-powered partners. 

8. Culinary Experiences: Food Tours, Breweries, Wineries, Distilleries & Cooking Classes

Food remains the world’s most universal language. Culinary tours, beverage tastings, cooking classes — it’s all exploding worldwide. Travelers want to taste a destination, not just see it. This category is diverse, global, and only getting stronger.

7. Dynamic Pricing

Dynamic pricing has officially gone mainstream. No longer just for big attractions, operators of all sizes are using demand-based pricing, timed entry, and bundling to drive yield. The tools finally caught up, and operators who embrace real revenue management are seeing real returns.

6. Social Commerce

Vertical video created the spark.

Social commerce created the shortcut.

Travelers are discovering, choosing, and now booking one click away from TikTok, Reels, and Shorts. The funnel has collapsed. Visibility in the scroll is now visibility in the marketplace.

5. U.S. Operators Suffer Without Canadians and Other International Travelers

International inbound, especially from Canada, is down and only going in one direction. U.S. operators are feeling it in softer shoulders, slower midweeks, and tougher seasonality. Domestic demand alone can’t carry the load. 

ARIVAL 360 | VALENCIA

27-29 April 2026

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4. The Great AI Distribution Debate: Direct vs. Intermediaries (See Round II in Valencia!)

This is the fight everyone is watching.

As AI reshapes discovery, sorting, and routing of demand, will it favor OTAs? Direct channels? New AI-native platforms? Or something else entirely? We don’t have the full answer yet, not even the AIs do, but the implications are massive. And yes, we’ll be featuring Round II of the debate at the upcoming Arival event in Valencia.

3. AI-Powered Search & Discovery: Visibility in LLMs, Google SGE, ChatGPT, Perplexity

Welcome to the new SEO.

If you’re not optimizing for how LLMs and AI-driven search view your experience, you’re already behind. Google’s SGE, ChatGPT, and Perplexity are rewriting the mechanics of discovery. Operators need to think about structured content, clarity, context, authority,  or risk disappearing from the recommendation layer entirely.

2. AI for Mid-Office and Back-Office Efficiencies

This is the unglamorous AI story, and the most profitable one. Automation in scheduling, inventory, content management, quoting, HR, and operations is saving teams massive amounts of time. AI isn’t replacing people; it’s removing friction. This is where operators are quietly unlocking real scalability.

1. Going Public and Consolidation! (IPOs + M&A Heat Up)

And here it is: the biggest story in the history of our industry.

• Klook and MyRealTrip file for IPOs. 
• Expedia acquires Tiqets. 
• Peek raises $70M and then acquires ACME Ticketing and Connect&Go. 

The money, the momentum, the validation, this truly marks the moment when our category steps onto the global stage. This shift will redefine competition, capital flow, valuation, exit paths, and partnership strategy. It’s a milestone we’ve been waiting for, and it’s only the beginning.

The Industry’s Turning Point

If 2025 proved anything, it’s that destination experiences are no longer the “side dish” of travel — they’re the main event. This sector is scaling, digitizing, consolidating, and professionalizing faster than anyone expected. The IPOs are a milestone. The tech acceleration is real. The consumer shifts are permanent.

2025 didn’t just give us trends — it gave us signals:

Signals of maturity.
Signals of momentum.
Signals of a market entering its next era.

And the opportunity ahead? Bigger than ever.

Here’s to the creators, innovators, operators, platforms, and entrepreneurs driving this industry forward.

Here’s to an even bigger 2026.

Let’s get to work.

Look to 2026 and Beyond with Arival

Join us for an upcoming Arival event in Valencia in April or Spokane in October, where we’ll gather industry leaders, experience operators and other experts to discuss the top trends in in-destination experiences and practical strategies that position your business for success in a rapidly evolving landscape.

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Header image: AI-generated using ChatGPT Image Generator & FaceSwap