Travel. It’s a word we all know. And it’s a word we love – an action that has tremendous meaning when put it into motion.
Travel offers so much for the soul – experiences, happiness, memories, and more!
The word travel can take on different meanings as we all know. For some, travel is described as a beach vacation with lots of relaxation, and for others it might mean an immersive cultural experience, or even a off-the-beaten-path nature excursion, blended with food, dance, and music.
One thing is certain: it doesn’t matter what style of travel you prefer, or how you interpret the meaning of travel – we all know that travel involves going somewhere different and experiencing the extraordinary.
Since the world shut down a year ago, most of us are itching to take to the skies and seas again, and we also realize just how good we once had it before COVID-19. We were all free to travel pretty much anywhere we wanted so long as our pocketbook could afford it. Now, since that freedom has been taken away from us, we want it back.
This is why we will see a big uptick in “experiential” travel – defined more broadly as the personal reward of authentic exploration. Sure, there is traditional travel, but consumers in our post-pandemic world will want a more wholistic experience in our new era of travel.
See what happens when a world goes into lockdown for a year – it drives change in every industry, one being travel, and it makes people seek new channels for inner-fulfillment; that is meaning on a much more sophisticated level.
What is experiential travel?
This is a popular question I am now getting asked by a number of travel consumers.
But before I define it, I first want to define what traditional travel is.
Traditional travel is a term most consumers are familiar with, and it generally involves group tours, resort-focussed vacations, and pre-planned-packaged trips. Examples of traditional travel is going on a cruise, or to an all-inclusive report, or spending a week at Disney with the family.
Now onto experiential travel, which gets us back to the very root of travel and rejects the same-old, same-old travel experience of everything being planned: buffet stye dinners, swim-up-pool-bars, and dance and entertainment clubs all housed near one another on a cruise ship or resort.
Traditional travel will always remain popular, but experiential travel will be a new and popular trend when it’s safe to travel again. Travel, for many that is, will be more about adventure, in search of the unknown and uncertainty, like it was hundreds of years ago when voyagers took the seas in search of new frontiers. I am not saying we will all be boarding warships or merchant ships or walking on land for days on end – well, you can actually do this too – but more travel consumers will desire untrodden territories and will have a fascination with the unexpected, where doubt will exist but will be more craved.
That “not know where you are going” encounter will rule the day more than ever in our new chapter of travel.
What kind of experiences?
In 2019 I took a small group of food lovers across Asia with Massimo Capra, Food Network Chef extraordinaire who is so much fun to travel with and we took in Myanmar, including a hot air Balloon over the temples of Bagan. Then we went on to a river cruise along the Irrawaddy before flying off to Bangkok, Thailand, for a fabulous foodie few days of cooking and tasting and even being taught by the ex-chef to the king and finally we ended it with a Mekng Cruise from Vietnam to Cambodia with AMAWaterways. It was the most spectacular journey of experiences creating memories lasting a lifetime.
Another trip I hosted in 2018 was a Wye Tour around Tuscany, hosted by the ex-sommelier to the Obamas and we finished that wine tasting tour in the Brenta Riviera near Venice shopping in the exclusive Italian shoe factories that make the best Italian shoes in the world.
That wine tour was under $3,000 so experiential travel doesn’t always have to break the bank. With my connections and my experience, I was able to create an epic adventure for food and wine lovers with the added shopping thrown in for good measure.
A great travel agent will take care of crafting a trip ideal for you, matching you with the most extraordinary places, booking your flights, reserving your accommodation, and recommending activities – all 100% tailored to your individual travel style. Or, if you already have an exciting destination in mind, they will cover the logistics, maximize for your budget, hand you curated recommendations, and get you there stress-free and often in my case – go with you to help like a travelling personal concierge!
There is a rise of interest in soft adventure by a wider range of age demographics than in previous decades. Statistics show nearly 54% of travellers plan to participate in an adventure activity on their next trip, compared to the 42% of travellers currently participating in adventure activities.”
As we enter a post-pandemic world of travel, more consumers will desire an appetite for something more adventurous with more meaning.
As we move into a new normal, so-to-speak, we will definitely see a spike in travel consumers wanting packages far beyond the traditional travel package.
Do you want to roam London like a local? Or how about trekking through Fiji and climbing up 100-foot waterfall cliffs? Wait, how about glamping in Kenya and Uganda and get up close to gorillas and elephants? Oh wait, did you say you want a hot air balloon ride in Bagan, Myanmar?
The world is your oyster, so when it’s safe to travel, get out and have fun.
Experiential travel may be just a word for you, but it soon may be your only way of travel now and well into the future.
