How can travel professionals make more bank in 2023? Look to frequent travellers as people are prepared to put their discretionary income towards travel over shopping, home improvement and entertainment, despite rising costs and inflation.
Leisure travel takes the largest share of consumers’ annual budgets with almost one in five discretionary dollars (19%) allocated to holidays, according to new Tripadvisor research, matched only by dining out (19%) and ahead of shopping (18%), home improvement (14%) and entertainment (13%).
It’s good news for travel advisors as it shows that travel is a non-negotiable expense despite global economic uncertainty.
Tripadvisor also noted that people are planning to travel more and for longer periods.
Respondents surveyed in six key markets – Australia, India, Japan, Singapore, the US and the UK – were prepared to absorb higher costs to keep travelling with 78 per cent planning to spend more or at least the same on travel as last year.
Almost all respondents (95%) said they would rather decrease spending in other categories to save for a future vacation.
The vast majority of travellers also make purchases from a range of categories when preparing for a trip, such as clothes (89%), luggage (72%) and electronics (62%).
This mindset continues in-destination with 63 per cent claiming shopping is an important part of their travel budget.
Only four per cent of travellers surveyed don’t usually shop during leisure trips, while one in five respondents (20%) ranked shopping as the activity they spend the most on while travelling.
Find those frequent travellers
Those who travel more also spend more in-destination. Frequent travellers (those planning three or more trips over the next 12 months) are especially enthusiastic consumers.
Not only does this group plan more trips, but they typically spend more on accommodation per night than occasional travellers.
Forty-one per cent of frequent travellers will book accommodation priced at over USD$200/night, which is 71 per cent higher than occasional travellers.
More than half (53%) of frequent travellers will spend more on travel in the next 12 months than they did in the past year, compared to 38 per cent of occasional travellers.
More respondents also planned on taking longer trips of over a week compared to last year.
Read the full report here.
Discover which Australian destinations made Tripadvisor Travellers’ Choice Awards for the Best of the Best Things to Do for 2022 here.
