The world fast realizes that money spent on experiences is far of worth than money spent on purchasing items. A popular saying “experience is synonymous with wisdom,” clearly describes the current appetite for experiential tourism. By definition, experiential tourism is an outgrowth of a global movement towards experiential learning, whereby people create meaning through direct experiences nota.ca. Experiences are precious, think about the long-lasting memories that come from them. When you travel to a place, you hardly forget the 2000year old museum you visited or the unique foods you had the opportunity to indulge, that is the beauty of experiential tourism.
What are the current experiential tourism statistics?
Iconic site visits are skyrocketing
To stay on top of your game as a travel agency, you need to monitor changes in trend and degree of demand for a particular service, and I must say, experiential tour and tourism is the fastest way to make good money this year. According to Trip advisor, experiential tourism to most of the world’s iconic sites and cities increased by a staggering 65% in 2018. Travelers are not just expanding their horizons, they want to be one with the people they visit. World famous sites such as to gaze all day at the beautiful ceilings of the Sistine Chapel, skip-the-line pass for a walking tour of the Vatican museums, be part of the history on the grounds of st peters square, walk across the Chicago river architecture cruise and trotting around the Roman Coliseum.
The rise in food tours and culinary, historical heritage experiences
It is essential for travel agencies to know that categories such as food tours are soaring high, thanks to experiential tourism. According to trip advisor, food heritage experiences, culinary fairs and food festival rose to above 125% in booking. Cooking classes and food tours are top of the categories, recording a whopping 57% increase in booking in 2017. By gross booking value, food tours saw the most growth in 2017, you can’t blame them, and everyone loves Italian dishes!
No one wants the line-ups anymore
Thanks to experiential tourism, skip-the-line increase by 56% in 2017 at some of the world’s busiest landmarks and sites such as the Louvre and roman colosseum. Now for any travel agency that wishes to stay ahead of the game this year, you need to consider adopting the skip-the-line ticket policy. According to trip advisor, over 1200 skip-the-line tickets were sold globally in 2017. Consider getting access to popular sites such as the Eiffel tower, London eye, and Sagrada Familia and making ready some of these tickets to help boost your business.
“Travelers are also being more economical with their time,” Greatrix said and. “Skip-the-line tour options are among the fastest-growing tours in the world, and were among the fastest growing categories for US travelers, in particular, allowing travelers to see more than just the back of someone’s head.”
A whooping 30,00o new experiences added.
Thanks to guides, you need not bother on what to add to your catalog, according to trip advisors, guides and operators added 30,000 new experiences in 2017, thereby increasing tours by 50%. Tour experiences range from day cruises to cooking classes, multi-day adventure tours. People just want to experience Italy in its raw form and beauty like locals.
There are numerous online channels to sell tours and activities, different online trip Agency are at your beck and call, they help you book flight tickets, holiday packages, train tickets, and hotels. OTAs have a significant role to play in providing adequate services when it comes to experiential tourism. However, the case seems to be different as most OTAs are yet to get access to the local, unexplored parts of the world, places where tourists are dying to learn one or two about. Talk about the historic Awhum caves in Enugu state, Nigeria, with ancient artifacts some of which have been carbon-dated back to 3000 years ago, or have a taste of some local Philippine dishes which the world have no idea exists. There unexplored parts of Italy that OTAs are yet to bring to the world. We are really getting bored of the Colossus!
The future of experiential tourism agencies.
Thanks to Artes. Travel a revolutionary Incoming Operator specialized in experiential travelling aimed at bringing you Italy in its wholeness and beauty. Artes. Travel is a specialized marketplace in Italy as a destination, aimed at bringing the full Italian experience to tourists. Artes. Travel goes a step further to provide tourists with a Storyliving experience in Italy so unconventional from what they are conversant with. Artes. Travel is a money spent you will never regret.