The rise of multi-destination travellers in the experience economy

In what is known as the experience economy, travellers are looking for more than just one holiday destination. A third of the 2.5 million Aussies who went overseas on their last trip visited multiple destinations looking to find and capture new experiences.

These experience economy travellers were intent on experiencing the local culture (85 per cent of them). And they’re prepared to spend more ($215 per person per night) and stay away longer (32 nights on average) to ensure their desire for a rich experience is met.

Comfort is a key part of the holiday experience for experience economy travellers: they’re almost six times more likely than average to travel on a cruise ship for at least some of their holiday and more than three times as likely to stay in luxury five-star accommodation.

Source: Roy Morgan Holiday Tracking Survey, January-December 2016, 9,509 (of whom 1,532 went overseas for last holiday). Base: Australian holiday-goers 14+

In the traditional economy, of the 13.5 million Australians who took at least one holiday last year the vast majority (84.5%) of them visited just one destination on their trip, were away for only six nights, and spent an average of $160 per person per night.

Michele Levine, CEO, Roy Morgan Research, says:

“For many travellers, the perfect holiday is one in which they do as little as possible (preferably while lying on a beach towel), but in the experience economy travellers visiting multiple destinations tend to seek out more active, engaged experiences.

“Data from Roy Morgan’s Holiday Tracker shows that Aussies travelling to multiple overseas destinations are especially committed to wringing every last drop out of the experience. For many, it might be the trip of a lifetime that they’ve been looking forward to for years, a one-off holiday that they’re counting on to deliver on all fronts (even if they have to pay more).

“Tourism operators, travel agents and accommodation providers that help them achieve their holiday dreams—giving them not a simply a nice place to stay and sights to tick off their list, but a sense of active participation—stand to benefit. These industry players should also be aware that above-average proportions of international and domestic multi-destination travellers are from the more affluent end of the socio-economic spectrum.”