Outside Lands - San Francisco, California (August 5-7).
From popular music festivals to Copa America, leisure events draw crowds during Q1 and summer months.
SAN FRANCISCO – Through a rigorous analysis of more than a billion travel intent data points, Sojern, a leading performance marketing platform for travel brands, released its quarterly report of global travel insights.
Though a range of data and insights are shared in the report, from covering how the weakened pound impacted UK travel and perhaps increased U.S. travel across the pond, to post-Ramadan travel, the report focuses on looking forward to summer travel, much of which is motivated by leisure happenings such as music festivals and sporting events.
Summer Music Festivals: From East to West
Given that a whopping 32 million people attend at least one U.S. music festival a year, Sojern analyzed flights to three of the biggest U.S. summer music festivals in order to determine the top origin cities of attendees:
The Governors Ball – New York City, New York (June 3-5)
Top-searching cities include Los Angeles, Miami, and Chicago. This festival pulls plenty of Midwest and West Coast travelers to the East Coast.
Lollapalooza – Chicago, Illinois (July 28-31)
Boston, Philadelphia, and Dallas are the top-searching cities for the 25-year-old festival hosted in the heart of the Midwest.
Outside Lands – San Francisco, California (August 5-7)
Music lovers from New York City, Washington DC, and Dallas are looking to fill Golden Gate Park gets filled to the brim with music fans for this festival and music lover.
U.S. Races to Rio for the Olympics
The end of summer brings the ultimate in sporting events – the 2016 Summer Olympic Games, hosted in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. U.S. travelers are showing a 577 percent increase in travel intent during the Olympic period. In fact, only Japan has a higher increase in travel intent, with 716 percent change. Sojern data shows that 34 percent of U.S. travelers are looking to spend 8 to 11 days at the Olympics. With the games spanning 16 days, it seems that U.S. travelers are looking to cheer on the U.S. team for much of the duration of the event.
A First: Copa America Hosted In the U.S.
This year, for the first time in history (and on its 100th anniversary), Copa America – a pan-America soccer competition – will be hosted in the U.S. (June 3-26). The day following the draw – when the games were set – cities hosting games (e.g., Seattle, San Francisco, and Orlando) saw an increase of travel intent of 54 percent day over day and 38 percent week over week from U.S. travelers for Copa dates. Boston is the number one market heading to the San Francisco games, while Dallas takes the top spot for all Orlando games.
Copa host cities also saw an increase in travel of 131 percent day over day and 74 percent week over week from Latin American countries, following the announcement of the games. All of this travel, both from within the U.S. and the rest of the Americas, is shaping up to make the tournament one of, if not, the biggest travel events for U.S. this summer.
Top 10 Global Destinations Searched vs Booked in Q1
Top Countries Searched
- United States
- Spain
- Italy
- United Kingdom
- France
- Germany
- Portugal
- Thailand
- Russia
- Greece
Top Countries Booked
- United States
- Mexico
- United Kingdom
- Spain
- Italy
- France
- Germany
- Portugal
- Switzerland
- Canada
Looking ahead at summer travel:
What are the summer search trends for North America?
Short-haul
- Las Vegas
- Miami
- New York City
- Orlando
- Los Angeles
- Long-haul
- London
- Paris
- Cancun
- Rome
Who’s headed to The Governors Ball? (Also have data on other music fests)
Running June 3-5 on New York City’s Randall’s Island, The Governors Ball’s has an eclectic lineup. From Kanye to The Killers, this fest has something for everyone.
Despite the East Coast location of the fest, The Governors Ball is pulling a lot of West Coast and Midwest travelers. Those in the region, most likely, can drive in.
- San Francisco
- Los Angeles
- Las Vegas
- Phoenix
- Denver
- Dallas
- Miami
- Orlando
- Chicago
- Toronto
How has the decline of the pound impacted UK travel?
Since its last peak at $1.70, in July 2014, the British pound has been in decline. In February 2016, it fell below $1.40—the lowest rate since the mid-1980s. The weaker pound hasn’t had a great impact on the top destinations for UK travelers yet. However:
- In July 2014, the US was third in UK destinations. It dropped to fourth place in May 2015 but didn’t stay there for very long.
- As of March 2016, the US is back to its spot as the third top destination for UK travelers.
- Spain, on the other hand, has never dropped out of its top spot over the past few years.
One change we have observed for UK travel trends is trip duration. In recent months, we see a steady decline in the year-on-year share of long trips of 12 or more days, which could be a result of a weaker pound and talk of leaving the European Union or “Brexit.”
Rio residents are escaping Brazil for these destinations for the Olympics:
- Lisbon
- New York City
- Orlando
- Paris
- Miami.
Vicky is the co-founder of TravelDailyNews Media Network where she is the Editor-in Chief. She is also responsible for the daily operation and the financial policy. She holds a Bachelor's degree in Tourism Business Administration from the Technical University of Athens and a Master in Business Administration (MBA) from the University of Wales.
She has many years of both academic and industrial experience within the travel industry. She has written/edited numerous articles in various tourism magazines.
