The data behind
the intelligence layer.

59% of travelers don't have a specific destination in mind when they first decide to take a trip.

Travelers visit an average of 38 websites before booking. The research phase spans weeks of fragmented browsing.

90% of consumers read online reviews before visiting a business. In travel, review content directly influences booking decisions.

83% of Gen Z travelers use social media as a source of travel inspiration, compared to 69% of millennials.

Mobile devices account for over 50% of travel bookings globally. Desktop still dominates for complex, multi-leg itineraries.

The average booking window has compressed by 20% since 2019, with travelers deciding closer to departure dates.

72% of travelers say they are willing to pay more for personalized travel experiences.

50% of travelers say they're more likely to use a travel advisor than they were in the past. 27% of advisor clients are working with an advisor for the first time.

80% of USTOA tour operator members now use AI in some capacity, up sharply from 28% two years ago.

71% of tour operators report increased traveler hesitancy. 63% see shorter booking windows - travelers deciding closer to departure.

88% of tour operators anticipate sales growth in 2026, with 55% projecting gains of 7-10%+.

90% of tour operators plan to utilize travel advisors in 2026. 78% say the advisor role is very important to their business.

OTA commissions have risen from 15-20% to 30%+. Direct booking costs stay consistently at 4.25-4.5%.

By 2030, hotel direct digital channels are projected to overtake OTAs - $400+ billion in direct bookings versus $333 billion through OTAs.

Phocuswright projects the U.S. travel agency market will grow to $123 billion by 2026, driven by advisor-assisted complex travel.

18% of travelers who start their research on an OTA ultimately book direct - capturing those bookings requires a tech stack that supports it.

Travel & Leisure is the only industry with average website session duration above 3 minutes - well above the cross-industry median of 2 minutes 38 seconds.

85% of DMOs are maintaining or increasing digital advertising budgets. But 54% struggle to demonstrate clear ROI.

51% of DMOs say data analysis is a major challenge. 45% struggle to turn data into actionable strategies.

96% of DMOs invest in paid media as essential to achieving marketing objectives. 58% take an always-on approach, investing year-round.

DMOs anticipate AI's impact will be most pronounced in content creation, with nearly half (49%) foreseeing significant impact.

59% of travelers don't have a specific destination in mind when they first decide to take a trip - open to inspiration destinations can deliver on their own site.

Average display ad CTR in travel is just 0.47% - retargeting users who already showed intent significantly outperforms cold display.

OTAs capture 40-60% of transactional clicks in many markets - for most destinations, the moment of inspiration is theirs but the moment of booking is not.

$1 in every $4 spent on travel is now booked through a travel advisor. Gross travel agency bookings totaled $119.3 billion in 2024 and are projected to reach $141.7 billion by 2027.

50% of travelers say they're more likely to use a travel advisor than they were in the past. 27% of advisor clients are working with an advisor for the first time.

Only 2% of advisor clients book through their advisor because the advisor offers the best price. Clients book on relationship, customer service, and expertise.

73% of travel advisors' clients are over 40. 58% have incomes over $100,000.

2,068 advisors reported producing over $1.5 billion in sales and generating 218,342 bookings for suppliers in 2022.

93% of new advisors entering the profession in 2022 chose the hosted route - making host agencies the dominant on-ramp into the profession.

90% of tour operators plan to utilize advisors in 2026. 78% say the advisor role is very important to their business strategy.

The average advisor manages 50-80 active client relationships. Time spent on intake, formatting, and coordination directly competes with time spent selling.

The global event tourism market is valued at $1.5 trillion in 2025 and projected to reach $2.6 trillion by 2032, expanding at 7.3% CAGR.

CES Las Vegas 2024 welcomed over 135,000 attendees and generated $600 million in direct spending.

The 2024 Paris Olympics were projected to generate up to EUR10.7 billion in economic impact, with EUR1.4-3.5 billion attributed specifically to tourism beyond the event itself.

49% of event planners anticipate higher in-person attendance in 2026 - even as budget pressures and unpredictable attendee behavior remain top challenges.

Sports event attendees spend 1.5-2x more than conference attendees, driven by ticket pricing, hospitality, and merchandise.

Hybrid events are growing fastest of any event format - 13% CAGR through 2032 - as organizers monetize digital audiences while keeping the economic benefits of on-site attendance.

Conferences and exhibitions account for 38% of total event tourism revenue globally. Sports tourism follows at 26%.

tripcreator.ai's itinerary engine scores 4.3/5 average across 1,200+ generated plans in blind evaluation against human-curated baselines.

The Trajectory Transformer architecture evaluates geographic sequences for backtracking, poor open jaw alignments, and wasted transit days - producing a structural quality score per itinerary.

Destination Visual Intelligence System (DVIS) generates seasonally accurate, location-specific imagery using scene composition rules - replacing generic stock photography.

Contextual Emotional Anchor Mapping (CEAM) identifies the experiential moments most likely to drive booking conversion and places them strategically within itinerary sequences.