Advent calendars are a big business nowadays. Back in my day (cue Hovis music), we had to be content with those flimsy card ones where the pictures were so small, you couldn’t tell if what you were looking at was meant to be the baby Jesus or a donkey. Oh, and not a chocolate in sight.
It’s a different story now of course. From chocolate and teabags to perfume and pants, the advent calendar trend is the gift that keeps on giving (well…until the 24th December that is).
We can’t offer you chocolate or pants, but who needs them anyway, when you can have our Adido Advent Calendar of Travel Stats! We'll be revealing one of these stats every day up until the 24th...or if you really can't wait, you can read them all here, right now!
Merry Christmas ya filthy animals!
Adido's 24 days of travel trends and statistics
- Booking.com is the most visited travel and tourism website worldwide, with approx. 528 million visits recorded in October. That’s almost four times more than Tripadvisor in 2nd place! (Statista)
- People are more likely to go through with their travel bookings when using desktop (2.4% conversion rate) than mobile (0.7%). (Condor Ferries)
- Looking ahead to next year, more than two-thirds (68%) of people are planning to travel abroad in the next 12 months (up from 64% last year) (ABTA)
- Europe has the highest adventure tourism market share of 40%, followed by the Asia-Pacific region with 30% and North America at ~20% (Passport Photo Online)
- 42% of travellers aged 18-24 turn to social medial platforms (TikTok, Instagram, etc.) for holiday inspiration, compared to just 3% of people aged 65+ (ABTA)
- 80% of travellers visit just 10 percent of the world’s tourist destinations (McKinsey & Company)
- Two-thirds of travellers say that movies, streaming services and TV shows have influenced their travel choices, a trend known as ‘set-jetting’ (Expedia)
- 33% of travellers prefer sleeping in separate beds to their partner on holiday, while 11% book a different room to their partner altogether (Hilton Trends Report)
- People still prefer the human element when booking travel. In the past 12 months, almost two in five (38%) people booked their holiday with a travel professional, up from just over a third (34%) in the previous 12 months (ABTA)
- 21% of people in London use AI to research their travel and 54% of Londoners say they’re likely to use AI on future trips. The next most likely were those from Scotland (27%). In contrast, people in Yorkshire are the least likely to use AI for travel planning, with seven in ten people saying they are unlikely to use AI-powered tools (Sainsburys Bank)
- The tourism impact of Taylor Swift’s Wembley dates in Summer was huge: flight bookings to London were up as much as 34% compared to 2023, and hotel searches four times higher in the week leading up to her concerts in the capital (London.gov)
- People aged 18-44 favour Instagram for holiday planning over any other social media platform (ABTA)
- Monday is the busiest day of the week for booking travel while Saturday is the quietest (Condor Ferries)
- The AI market is projected to reach a staggering $1,339 billion by 2030, experiencing substantial growth from its estimated $214 billion revenue in 2024 (Markets & Markets)
- 17% of Gen Z/Y travellers say they’d rather take lots of shorter trips than one long-haul trip in 2025 (Ibis)
- 91% of UK travellers said they experienced some kind of constraint, limitation or shortcoming when using AI to make travel plans (Sainsburys Banks)
- Food-focused travel was found to be booming, with 32% of Brits interested and searches for ‘cooking tourism’ up 250%. Foodies are travelling to explore cuisines and culinary traditions (Accor)
- Searches for the term ‘solo holiday’ in March 2024 were up 124% from the same period in 2022 (Semrush data)
- 47% of Millennials say they have planned an entire trip around visiting a specific restaurant (Condor Ferries)
- The global travel average grew 9% above the same time last year, showing that the travel industry’s double-digit growth surge, fuelled by the pent-up demand post-pandemic, has now subsided (Skift)
- The key priorities for travellers in 2025 are ‘spending time with friends and family’ (53%), followed by ‘treating myself’ (49%). For over a third (36%), it is important they come back feeling healthier than when they left (Marriott Bonvoy)
- 32% of Brits plan trips around music events. The big hitters for 2025 are set to be Oasis, Coldplay and Dua Lipa (Accor)
- Over 55s spend 52% more on their holidays than under 35s and take 30% more trips (Mintel)
- 45% of Brits visit a website 2-3 times before making travel purchases (Quantum Metric)
That's all folks! Merry Christmas from Team Adido!
