Arival has just dropped its 2026 US Experiences Traveler Outlook, based on a survey of 800 US experiences travelers and the headline finding is something the industry has been inching toward for years: experiences now drive destination decisions, not the other way around.
People are no longer choosing a destination and then figuring out what to do there. They’re choosing the destination because of the experience. The tour, the food crawl, the cooking class with a local family, that’s the anchor. The flight and hotel are just the logistics.
Americans Taking Fewer Trips
Three in five travelers now rate experiences as very or extremely important to their destination choice. Among 18-34 year-olds, experiences are the single most important factor, ranked above weather, food and even the overall appeal of the destination itself. 76% of that age group say so explicitly.
Fewer Trips. More Intentional Spending
Most US travelers expect to take the same number or fewer trips in 2026. But here’s the thing, they’re not spending less on experiences. Average trip spend dipped slightly overall in 2025, but experience spend rose across every single category. People are trading volume for depth.
This is the “quality over quantity” shift playing out in hard data. When you only take two or three trips a year, you make them count.
In my opinion, this is an important chart in the travel industry right now, experience spend going up while overall trip spend goes down. If the experience is the centerpiece of your trip, may be that’s where your credit card spend and redemption strategy should be focused, not just on the seat you fly in.
Gen Z Is Not Playing Around
Younger travelers are outspending older travelers on experiences by roughly $100 per experience on average. One in four under-35s is booking on their phone.
The Death of the Same-Day Booking
For years, the in-destination, last-minute booking was the norm. That pattern is now firmly in the minority. More than 80% of travelers are reserving experiences at least a day in advance.
The best experiences are selling out further ahead than ever before. If you’re leaving the good stuff to chance, you’re going to be disappointed.
In essence, more people are now treating experiences the same way they treat flights and hotels. They research them and book them early. They build an itinerary outward from the thing they most want to do.
Affluent Travellers: The One Segment Growing
High-income travelers are the only group more likely to increase their trip count in 2026, showing greater resilience to economic uncertainty. For those of us in the points and miles world, this is your cohort. The market is bifurcating: cautious middle-income travellers pulling back, affluent travellers doubling down. Plan your points strategy accordingly.
The Pundit’s Mantra
So, which camp are you falling into? I’m someone who has been taking fewer, but longer and more leisurely trips. Are you also a part of this growing trend? Tell us in the comments section.
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