It’s 2023 and travel is finally taking off again. Today, digital travel sales have bounced back to pre-pandemic levels. They’re even expected to hit $833 billion in 2025. Besides the obvious reasons travel sales have gained their turbo-charged momentum, market shifts, tech advancements and changing attitudes can take some credit for moving the needle far, far ahead. If you’re a tourism marketer looking for an edge over your competitors, here’s what our top tourism industry trends 2023 will bring.

Bleisure travel will continue to rise.

While Millennials have already taken over a large portion the workforce, Gen Z has begun infiltrating and their numbers will only continue to grow. What does this mean for travel? With the shift in demographics, business leisure travel is on the rise. Even before the pandemic, 90% of Millennials tacked on entertainment activities to their business trips. Now, employees are taking advantage of flexible corporate travel policies and utilizing their resources, like self-service apps and programs, to optimize their stay. Consider appealing to young, business professionals and business travel trends post covid when marketing your hospitality or tourism company this year.

Sustainability will influence travel decisions.

With the shift in demographics, advertisers and marketers will have to pay close attention to how tourism trends 2023 will hold and appeal to their target audience’s changing preferences. Recently, green initiatives have become a hot topic. It’s reported that seven in ten consumers have actually avoided certain tourism spots because they were skeptical of their sustainable practices. This includes climate, environment and even culture. Travelers in 2024 are expected to closely consider climate warnings when it comes to their travel choices as well as the impact their travel may have on native cultures.

Travelers will prefer unique, authentic experiences.

Experiential tourism is hot right now. Travelers want once-in-a-lifetime adventures. They want to get on the same level as the locals. That’s why many travelers prefer non-traditional accommodations, so they can explore their destination with a different lens. In fact, 74% of millennial business travelers opted for vacation rentals versus hotels. If hospitality and tourism brands want to show their consumers all the unique and authentic experiences they offer, they will need to up their digital ad game. Leveraging video assets will give digital ads a stronger search presence to win over their audience’s attention and ignite their wanderlust. Other useful initiatives to do this include: influencer campaigns, loyalty programs, digital promos, social media strategies and more you can read about here.

Personalization & automation will make travel more convenient.

Bye, bye travel agents. The modern travelers are utilizing self-service apps and programs to meet their accommodations and preferences. Tech advancements make their travels almost completely contactless. From mobile boarding to facial recognition, faster in-flight travel updates and more, tech innovations will make the process smoother and more convenient, giving travelers that much more reason to jet off at a moment’s notice. The future of tourism in 2023 is moving toward a fully automated world.

For more ideas or questions about how you can apply this information to your brand, feel free to reach out. Push can help take your brand to the next level.