Tripadvisor has released a preview for its upcoming 2024 study on the Experience of Travel, which showed that 67% of travelers surveyed across 7 key markets placed more value on experiences than things. It’s a drum the sector has been beating for a while.

Tripadvisor’s study saw participation from 5,618 travelers from Australia, France, India, Japan, Spain, the UK, and the U.S.

While all experiential trip components – from lodging, dining, and in-destination activities are considered important – what travelers choose to do during their travels is seen as the setup for memorable trips.

Despite economic uncertainties, 95% of travelers would cut discretionary spending in other areas like food or entertainment to fund their travels.

The post-pandemic traveler’s desire for wide open spaces continues unabated, as shown by 45% of respondents listing natural attractions as their most popular trip activity. Tripadvisor has also hedged its latest national ad campaign for its Viator tours and activities brand on Museum Tours.

How travelers discover and plan their trips has been a hot topic this year, especially with the development of large language models, ChatGPT4, and Conversational Voice AI planners. Yet, with all the hype, it’s interesting to note the traditional means of travel guidance used by travelers surveyed. Tripadvisor will release the full research findings in January 2024.