Supporting Data

More than two-thirds of adults who have been on vacation in the past year participated in some sort of outdoor activity on their trip. 85% of families said their priority was outdoor activities (Short Term Rentalz 2019)

Impact of COVID-19

Prior to COVID-19, outdoor recreation was already on the rise with a large, stable group of dedicated outdoor enthusiasts contributing to most of the market’s growth. However, the pandemic has generated many new outdoor leisure consumers looking for ways to have fun safely outside of their home. This has resulted in many national and state parks seeing an uptick in the number of visitors this summer as well as an increase in sales for camping, outdoor and recreational equipment. In addition to consumers rediscovering the appeal of outdoor activities, The Great American Outdoors Act passed last month which dedicates nearly $3 billion to conservation projects, outdoor recreation and maintenance on national parks. Between this initiative and surging outdoors trends, outdoor recreation is likely to continue to be top of mind for US consumers throughout 2021.

EpicTrek Data

200 people ages 30-55+ responded to a survey on their adventure habits (Mintel).

Primary Data

Secondary Data

Support for Our Target Persona Zoe

http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.1063.3582&rep=rep1&type=pdf

Women book tours and activities 67% of the time (TrekkSoft)
95% of family travelers said their priority was keeping their families entertained and happy (Short Term Rentalz 2019)
42% of Millennials, 51% of Gen X, and 51% of Baby Boomers expect to travel only to domestic destinations (AARP)
Experience beats expense when it comes to family travel (Expedia Group)
54% of people ages 35-44 take vacation for adventure (Solo Traveler World)
Travelers with high incomes are more likely to have taken many different types of trips: adventure travel (33%), music event (31%), other festival (30%), cruise (27%), and skiing/snowboarding (20%) (Trip Advisor)
81% of travelers consider it very important for brands to provide personalized experiences to their customers (Travolution)
75% of people travel within the U.S. and farther than a bordering state (Travel Leaders Group)
39.5% of people travel within their home state (Travel Leaders Group)
33.1% of people travel to a bordering state (Travel Leaders Group)

Why Americans Travel

85% to see my child excited about the experience
82% to relax/reduce stress
81% to make memories
78% for fun, excitement, and adventure
73% to see or do something new
72% to see more of the world
66% to strengthen relationship with a significant other
65% to strengthen bonds with family and friends
60% to improve outlook on life

(U.S. Travel Association)

Healthy Lifestyle Trend

Nearly eight in 10 adults are actively working on improving their health at least a little, while only 5% are not actively working on changing their health in any way. – Mintel, Healthy Lifestyles – US, November 2018

The National Decline of Mental Health

47% of millennials and 40% of generation Z travel to relax and avoid stress (WYSE Travel Confederation)
51% of people travel to recharge their batteries when they feel stressed, busy, and tired (Intrepid Adventure Travel Index)
49% of families said their main priority when they take a family vacation is to visit new places and explore together, 42% to relax and unwind together, and 6% to be active and outdoors together (NYU)

The benefits of Hiking on our mental and overall health are proven. Researchers from Stanford University found hiking reduces stress, calms anxiety, and leads to a lowers risk of depression (nps.gov)

A 2019 study found that kids who spent the least amount of time in green spaces were 55% more likely to develop psychiatric issues, such as anxiety and mood disorders, as adolescents or adults (verywellfamily.com via Engemann, Pedersen, Arge, Tsirogiannis, Mortensen, and Svenning).

COVID-19’s Effect on Travel

“How will the COVID-19 pandemic affect how you plan for future trips? Are there certain types of trips you will be more likely to take? Are there certain health or safety guarantees you will look for in travel providers?”

“I will plan on trips within my state for a year. I will want to see that there are months of no to minimal new cases, especially where I will travel too.” – Female, aged 45-54 (Mintel)

67% of 2000 internet users aged 18+ say travel by road trip by car is their choice of vacation travel before a vaccine is available
88% will try to avoid close contact with others while traveling based on 2000 internet users aged 18+
56% of Americans have taken a staycation recently (YouGov)
2020 Google searches for “staycation” have jumped 45% YoY (Google)
Post-pandemic “revenge spending” indicates travel will be among the first industries to recover. (Forbes)
Weekly pent-up demand for post-pandemic travel continues to grow. (TravelPulse)

Why An Online Presence/App Makes Sense

86% of travelers use online resources when deciding on their accommodation (Trip Advisor)
25% of U.S. destination selectors say they actively research new trips at least once a month (Phocuswright)
59% of families said travel websites (TripAdvisor, Expedia, etc.) were resources they used for information or inspirations for where to go and what to do, 10% said instagram, 74% said search engines, 51% said travel review websites, 30% said social media, 12% said travel agents, and 8% said blogs (NYU)

Where People Go When They Travel

In 2019, domestic travel spending grew 4.4% (for leisure grew 5.1%, for business grew 2.8%) (US Travel Association)
Millennials spent $4,400 (avg.) on travel in 2019, (Gen-Xers’ $5,400; Boomers’ $6,600) (CNBC)
Travelers who book their activities ahead of their trip spend 47% more on lodging than those who wait to book (Booking.com)
The top five summer road trip routes are: Las Vegas to National Parks, Northern California and Southern Oregon Coast, Northern New England, Blue Ridge Parkway in North Carolina, and Black Hills in South Dakota (AAA)
35% of Americans, are planning to take a vacation of 50 miles or more away from home involving two or more immediate family (AAA)
43% of families have traveled to a National Park with their children for family vacations (NYU)
Road trips represented 22% of vacations taken by American travelers in 2016 (MMGY Global)
53% of traveling families expect to pack up their cars for a road trip this year (Travel Agent Central)

Social Media Makes Sense As a Medium For Our Message

84% of Millennials and 73% of non-Millennials are likely or very likely to plan a trip based on someone else’s vacation photos or social media updates. (APM Agency)
37% of Millennials have had their holiday destination influenced by social media and 34% have booked a holiday because of content seen on social media. (WeSwap)
89% of Millennials plan travel activities based on content posted by their peers online. (Entrepreneur)
31% of Millennials said that posting holiday pics online is just as important as the holiday itself, and 29% wouldn’t choose a holiday destination if they were not able to post on social media while there. (WeSwap)
40% of travelers post activity/attraction reviews on social media after returning home. (WebFX)
42% of Millennials stress about taking the perfect photo for social media during vacation (Value Penguin)
58.2% of travelers used any user-generated content to help plan their leisure travel, 32.5% used reviews from hotel, 29.6% used travel reviews of destinations, 30.8% used reviews of restaurants or activities, 13.5% used travel itinerary or blogs, 33.3% used Facebook and 26.3% used group discount websites (Destination Analysts)
1,000,000 travel-related hashtags are searched weekly. (Wex, 2019)