How has the Covid-19 pandemic affected the Tours and Travel Activities market? Do travelers spend more money on tours and travel activities than before Covid? Do they plan way ahead, or do they tend to book tours right before the departure?
To get a more precise idea of these potential behavior changes, TourScanner collected quantitative data from pre-Covid (2019) and post-Covid (2022) periods, which has allowed us to analyze the booking behavior of over 10,000 users chosen randomly.
This data is based on TourScanner’s audience, and it doesn’t necessarily reflect the entire Tours and Travel Activities market. Nevertheless, we are confident that this report highlights robust and significant trends in the Tours and Travel Activities sector, some of them already existing before Covid, while others are new.
In this report, you will learn more about TourScanner’s customers and their booking behaviors, as well as about the changes in these behaviors.
About TourScanner
TourScanner is the leading search engine for tours and travel activities — aggregating 1.5 million offers worldwide from more than 30 providers, including Viator, GetYourGuide, Headout, and Musement, to name a few.
Currently, 1.8 million visitors visit the TourScanner website every month.
Customer behavior and booking analysis
Age of users
Visitors aged 25 to 34 remained the dominant group during the post-Covid period, thereby confirming what was observed before Covid. However, the proportion of this group decreased from 43% to 29% as the part of the older age groups slightly increased from 2019 to 2022.
The share of group 18-24 also increased from 15 to 20%. Globally, the distribution of ages is now more equally spread between age groups than it used to be before Covid.
Gender
The data shows that the interest in tours and travel activities and the time allocated to the search for information in this area are still predominant among females in post-Covid (54%). However, the gender gap in the distribution of visitors decreased, with males corresponding to almost half of the searches in 2022 (46%).
Devices used for booking
Mobile devices became the predominant device used in booking tours and travel activities after the Covid-19 pandemic, and they now correspond to 57% of usage on TourScanner.
In the pre-Covid period, desktops were the preferred device, with 54% of searches, and their share decreased to 43% after Covid.
Booking time prior to the start of the activity
The first graph reports the statistical distribution of the bookings over the number of days left before the start of the activity in 2019 (pre-Covid) and 2022 (post-Covid). The value zero means that the activity is booked on the same day of consumption.
The second graph reports the percentile distribution of the bookings in 2019 (pre-Covid) and 2022 (post-Covid).
The data highlights an increase in last-minute bookings (0 to 1 day before the start of the activity) from 22% in 2019 to 30% in 2022.
50% percentile is reached 5 days before the start of the activity, compared to 8 days in 2019.
TourScanner customers got used to last-minute booking during the pandemic, this behavior change resulting presumably from the uncertainty affecting travel possibilities. The data suggests that it may affect customers’ behavior in a durable way.
Booking behavior by device
Mobile devices are still the most used in last-minute bookings, while desktop usage slightly increased for last-minute bookings, and reached 9.5% in 2022. Overall, the trend towards last-minute booking holds for both devices.
Booking value
Comparing the booking time
TourScanner users have spent significantly more money in booking after Covid than before, with an increase in average booking value from US$157 to US$184. For all booking periods, travelers have increased their expenses on tours and travel activities..
Similarly to what was observed before Covid, travelers still spend lower value on last-minute bookings compared to bookings made several weeks in advance.
Right now, people are spending in average US$117 for last-minute bookings and US$250 for bookings made three weeks in advance or more.
Comparing the device used
The average values of bookings per device have proportionally increased in the post-Covid period (2022) compared to pre-Covid (2019), with an average increase of about US$30.
The data shows customers have spent more on tours and activities booked on TourScanner using mobile devices and desktops. In other words, customers still prefer booking expensive activities on desktops rather than through mobile devices.
Key travel trends
- TourScanner customers spend more on tours and travel activities after Covid than before.
- During the post-Covid period, travelers prefer to use mobile devices over desktops in bookings made on TourScanner.
- Using mobiles is particularly popular among less expensive tours and last-minute bookings, while desktop usage remains dominant among more expensive tours and when booking takes place several weeks ahead of the activity.
Final thoughts
This report is specific to TourScanner bookings, but it also highlights behavior changes that are relevant to the whole market for tours and travel activities. Some of these trends correspond to what was observed before Covid, while others are new.
For more complete pre-covid data, you may check our Tours & Travel activities report 2019.
If you have any questions about this report and need extra data about specific destinations or activities, please don’t hesitate to contact us.