Travelers are increasingly planning trips around what they want to do once they land, and Trip.com has numbers to back that up. Bookings for what the online travel agency calls “sportcations” rose nearly 40 percent in gross merchandise value over the past year, according to a report the company released Monday.
Searches for active sports experiences grew more than 30 percent year over year. Singapore (80 percent), Malaysia (65 percent), and the U.K. (50 percent) posted the biggest gains among individual markets, while France, Italy, Germany, and Spain each recorded triple-digit growth.
Bookings climbed even faster. Thailand (200 percent), South Korea (150 percent), and Singapore (104 percent) all more than doubled, as did the U.K. Germany’s active travel bookings rose more than 600 percent.
Growing passion in ‘sportcation’
(Trip.com)
Diving is the most-booked sporting experience worldwide, followed by ziplining, paragliding, skydiving, and cycling. Preferences split by source market: diving leads in South Korea, Malaysia, Germany, Spain, Italy, and France; skydiving tops the list in Hong Kong, Taiwan, and Thailand; and Japanese travelers favor cycling.
For advisors, the destination data may be the more useful takeaway. Thailand, China, Australia, New Zealand, and Malaysia appear among the leading destinations across cycling, climbing, swimming, water sports, and adventure experiences. Thailand ranks first for diving and shows up in all five categories, which Trip.com says makes it a natural fit for clients who want to stack several activities into one itinerary. Australia draws cyclists, rock climbers, surfers, and kayakers alongside paragliding and skydiving bookings.
Destinations driving sports
(Trip.com)
Party size varies by region. European active travelers average one to two people per booking, pointing to solo trips and couples, while Asia-Pacific groups average two to three, more often friends and family.
The trend is feeding the platform’s social content as well. Posts about active travel on Trip.Moments, Trip.com’s in-app community feed, nearly doubled year over year, and comments on those posts grew twelvefold. Spain (225 percent), the U.K. (122 percent), and Italy (119 percent) saw the sharpest increases in sharing.
One caveat worth keeping in mind: Trip.com’s customer base skews heavily toward Asia-Pacific, so these figures reflect its own booking mix more than the broader market. The percentages are also year-over-year comparisons off an unstated base, so Germany’s 600 percent jump likely says as much about where that market started as where it is now.
Related Stories
U.S. Court Vacates DOT Order to Unwind Delta/Aeromexico Venture
92% of Americans Aim to Reduce Overtourism, Intrepid Finds
Source link
