For much of modern tourism, the itinerary was built around places. Travelers visited a city, saw its major landmarks and perhaps added a guided tour after arriving. Increasingly, the experience itself is becoming part of the reason to travel.

New consumer research shows growing interest in trips that feel local, participatory and tailored to individual interests. That can mean learning to cook regional food, exploring a neighborhood with a local guide, joining a craft workshop, taking a wildlife excursion or booking a tour designed around a particular subject.

Expedia Group’s 2026 Full Trip Planning research found that 55% of travelers said having an authentic, immersive trip was more important than it had been five years earlier. Another 92% said participating in local activities contributes to a more immersive trip. The study, conducted by The Harris Poll in February 2026, surveyed 2,500 travelers with trip decision-making responsibility across 10 countries. These figures measure travelers’ attitudes rather than completed bookings, but they point to a broad shift in what people say they want from travel.

Traditional sightseeing has not disappeared. It remains the largest individual tour category in recent research.

Arival’s 2026 Day Tour Taker study, based on 2,550 U.S. and European travelers, found that sightseeing was the most commonly reported tour category, at 35%. Shopping and market tours followed at 30%, while food tours accounted for 23%, adventure tours 20%, special-interest tours 20% and wine or spirits tours 19%.

The more revealing finding was the direction of demand. Arival reported increasing interest in culinary, specialty and immersive, adventure and self-guided experiences among U.S. travelers. European respondents showed rising interest in nature, wellness and self-guided tours. The research also found growing demand for experiences described as local and immersive in both markets.

That suggests specialization is expanding alongside conventional tourism rather than simply replacing it. Travelers may still visit the famous cathedral, historic district or national park, but more of them also want a distinctive way to experience the surrounding destination.

Specialization is also changing the format of tours.

When Arival asked travelers about a specific tour they had taken, 48% of U.S. respondents and 46% of European respondents described an experience with fewer than seven people. Fewer than one in ten selected a tour with more than 20 participants. Arival also found that 50% of U.S. tour takers had taken a private tour during the previous year.

Small groups can support experiences that are difficult to reproduce at mass-tourism scale. A local food walk, photography tour, cooking lesson or specialist history tour depends partly on interaction with the guide or instructor, not simply access to an attraction.

The trend is particularly visible among solo travelers. In the same research, one-third of solo travelers reported taking a tour with three people or fewer, while two-thirds had booked a private tour.

Actual marketplace booking data provides another indication that travelers are moving beyond passive sightseeing.

Viator’s 2025 Travel Trends Report analyzed transactions made through its platform during 2024. It found that craft classes grew by more than 50% from 2023, while photography tours nearly doubled in popularity. Cooking classes ranked among Viator’s 10 most popular experience categories. Concerts and special events also recorded booking growth of more than 50%.

Viator calculated its growth rankings using 2024 bookings compared with 2023 and required at least 5,000 bookings for categories included in the relevant growth analysis. Because the figures come from one marketplace, they should not be treated as measurements of the entire tourism industry. They nevertheless provide behavioral evidence that travelers are paying for increasingly varied experiences, not merely expressing interest in surveys.

The wider market is substantial. Research published by Arival and Phocuswright in 2026 estimated that global gross bookings for tours, activities and attractions reached $271 billion in 2025 and forecast that they could reach $342 billion by 2029. The researchers project compound annual growth of about 8% from 2023 through 2029, compared with about 5% for the wider travel industry.

The estimate was developed using operator data, global traveler research, third-party economic indicators and a supply-side market model. Importantly, the $271 billion figure covers the broad tours, activities and attractions sector. It is not an estimate of spending specifically on specialized or locally led experiences.

For tourism businesses, the change is widening what can be sold as a travel experience. A destination does not need a new landmark every year to produce something new. Its food, crafts, neighborhoods, natural environment, music, history and specialist knowledge can all support different types of bookable activities.

The evidence does not suggest that travelers have stopped wanting famous attractions. Instead, it shows a market becoming more fragmented around interests, group sizes and levels of participation.

Travelers increasingly want to do something distinctive once they arrive, not simply see where everyone else has been. For local guides, instructors, artisans and other experience operators, that creates a growing market for turning specialized knowledge into part of the trip itself.