Travellers squeeze more activities into trips as spending stalls globally

The vacation math has shifted. American travelers are packing their weeks tighter than ever—squeezing in four or more tours, activities, and attractions per category during a single trip—even though they're spending no more money per person than they did before. Europeans, who stay longer, are doing something similar but with less intensity. This is the finding of a new report from Arival and Phocuswright, based on surveys of 2,550 travelers across the US, UK, France, Germany, and Spain. The picture it paints is one of travelers choosing breadth over depth, quantity over luxury.

Americans average 7.1 nights away per trip, compared to 8.3 nights for their European counterparts. Yet despite the shorter timeframe, Americans are booking more experiences per category than Europeans manage in their longer stays. The implication is clear: travelers have decided that fitting in another museum, another food tour, another walking route matters more than paying extra for a premium version of any single activity. Spending per person has flatlined in the US and actually declined in Europe, suggesting that the appetite for experiences is not translating into willingness to pay more.

The preferences between the two markets reveal distinct travel personalities. Europeans lead with cultural sites and landmarks—47 percent express interest in these—while Americans prioritize sightseeing tours at 42 percent and culinary experiences at 40 percent. Culinary tourism stands out as a particularly American preference, with 40 percent of US travelers interested compared to 32 percent in Europe. Spa and wellness activities, by contrast, appeal far more to Europeans, at 33 percent versus 23 percent in the US. These differences suggest that American travelers want to see and taste, while European travelers seek cultural immersion and restoration.

The booking process itself remains stubbornly analog. Fewer than half of travelers in both regions booked their most recent experience online. Nearly one in five travelers under 55, and almost a quarter of those 55 and older, simply walked up to a ticket office and bought on the spot. Yet a significant shift is underway: between 27 and 34 percent of travelers now book in advance out of fear that experiences will sell out, a sharp reversal from 2023 when same-day bookings accounted for as much as 60 percent of all experience purchases. Same-day bookings have collapsed to just 18 to 24 percent. This suggests travelers are planning their destination experiences before they leave home, choosing where to go based on what they want to do there.

The experiences sector itself is expanding rapidly. The market returned to its pre-pandemic value of $253 billion in 2024, then grew 17 percent to $271 billion in 2025—outpacing the broader travel industry's 6 percent growth. Projections suggest it will reach $342 billion by 2029. Yet online bookings account for only 33 percent of all experience transactions, far below the 64 percent online penetration across travel more broadly. This gap exists because the sector remains deeply fragmented: more than 70 percent of experience operators are classified as small or micro-businesses, many without sophisticated digital infrastructure. The opportunity, then, is not primarily to find new customers but to capture the demand already happening offline—to move the traveler standing in line at the ticket office, and the one stacking four activities into a week, into digital channels where they can be served more efficiently and where platforms can curate quality at scale.