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Travel Experiences 2026: Market Sizing, Operator and Consumer Behavior Highlights

This comprehensive overview of Arival & Phocuswright research on travel experiences explores the opportunity of the fastest-growing sector of travel

By Madelaine List, Phocuswright

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Summary

The tours, activities and attractions sector keeps outpacing the rest of travel — but it's still playing catch-up when it comes to online distribution. Arival and Phocuswright's latest joint research values the global experiences market at $271 billion in 2025, with growth continuing at a steady clip through 2029.

This report digs into what's driving that growth, from how many tours and activities travelers pack into a single trip, to which booking channels they favor, to why so many still buy in person rather than online. It draws on Arival's Global Operator Landscape survey of more than 5,600 operators and Arival’s 2026 Experiences Traveler study of nearly 2,600 travelers across the U.S. and Europe.

Travel Experiences 2026: Market Sizing, Operator and Consumer Behavior Highlights is sponsored by Civitatis, the leading experiences-focused online travel agency (OTA) for Spanish and Portuguese speaking travelers.

Research Partner

WHO THIS REPORT IS FOR

  • Tour, activity and attraction operators looking to benchmark their business against sector-wide growth, booking and distribution trends
  • Marketing and distribution teams weighing how to balance online and offline channels, or how to time promotions around booking windows
  • Business leaders and strategists tracking how U.S. and European traveler behavior differs, to inform product or market expansion decisions
  • Distribution partners, OTAs and technology providers assessing where digitization opportunities remain in a still largely offline sector
  • Investors and industry analysts benchmarking the experiences sector’s growth against the broader travel industry

WHAT’S IN THIS REPORT

  • Introduction: why experiences remain one of travel’s fastest-growing, least-digitized segments
  • Methodology: 
    • How Arival sizes and forecasts the global experiences market
    • Key Exclusions: what’s in scope (and out) for this market sizing
  • State of the Market: how the sector’s growth compares to the rest of travel, and where regional performance is diverging
    • The Global Travel Experiences Market (US$B), 2019–2029
    • Annual Change of Experiences vs. All Travel (US$B), 2019–2029
  • Consumer Habits: how many tours, activities and attractions travelers book per trip, what they spend, and which experience types are most popular in the U.S. vs. Europe
    • Average Numbers of Tours, Activities or Attractions (Among Those Who Participated in the Category)
    • Average Spend Changes (U.S. and Europe, per person)
    • Most Popular Experiences (U.S. vs. Europe)
  • Booking Channels: why experiences lag other travel verticals in online distribution, and what’s shaping when and how travelers book
    • Online Share of Travel and Experiences, 2022–2026
    • Online vs. Offline Booking Channels, by Age
    • Top Reasons for Booking in Advance — U.S.
    • Top Reasons for Booking in Advance — Europe
    • Experience Booking Windows, by Age
  • Conclusion: what continued growth means for operators navigating a squeezed consumer wallet
  • Appendix: Research Resources & References

ACCESS THIS REPORT

Arival & Phocuswright’s Travel Experiences 2026: Market Sizing, Operator and Consumer Behavior Highlights is available at no cost to Insider Free Access members. To access it simply sign up for a Free Access account, or ensure you’re logged in.

 

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