What you need to know

The booming tourism industry brought in an estimated $717.4 billion in 2019. However, the COVID-19 pandemic has caused a stark downturn in 2020. To come back from this, tour operators need to tap into the biggest demands of tourists. By reaching them through digital channels and appealing to their desire for authenticity and less traditional types of tours, travel tours can make a comeback with services that are popular among the broadest group of travelers.

Key issues covered in this Report

  • The impact of COVID-19 on consumer behavior in the travel category

  • What the post-COVID recovery will look like for travel activities

  • The most popular kinds of tours and activities for travelers in different age groups

  • How travelers are discovering new travel activities to try

Consumer research for this Report was fielded in February 2020 and reflects travelers’ typical activity participation before the COVID-19 outbreak in the US. The Report was updated on April 24 with COVID-19 implications for the category.

Definitions

For the purposes of this Report, Mintel has used the following definitions:

  • Traveler: an internet user aged 18+ who has taken a leisure trip in the past three years. Used interchangeably in this Report with “vacationer” and “tourist.”

Respondents saw these parentheticals to help define the following terms:

  • Pop culture tour (eg filming locations, celebrity home)

  • Tour with a vehicle that was not a car/bus/boat vehicle (eg ATV, helicopter)

  • Dark tour (ie tours of places associated with death/tragedy, eg catacombs, ghost tours)

  • Adventure tour (ie a physically demanding tour with a degree of risk, eg mountain climbing tour)

Note: Consumer data included in this Report was fielded in February 2020, before the impact of the COVID-19 outbreak in the US. As such, responses capture consumers’ typical travel behaviors, not their sentiment amidst the pandemic.

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