The global tourism industry is witnessing a strong change in tourist consumption behavior.
Instead of prioritizing traditional tours simply "going to rest", many people are now willing to spend more money on personalized, emotional and highly practical experiences.
One of the strongest growing sectors is culinary tourism. According to the World Food Tourism Organization (WFTA), up to 81% of international tourists want to learn about local cuisine and are willing to spend an average of 25% of their travel budget on dining.
Many travel businesses said that local market experience tours, cooking classes, night food tours (night culinary tourism) or cultural discovery journeys through cuisine currently have a very fast "customer lock-up" rate, especially for young tourist groups.
In parallel with that, health tourism is also becoming a new "gold mine" of the tourism industry.
The Global Healthcare Economy 2024 report shows that the scale of the global healthcare economy reached 6.3 trillion USD (more than 165 million billion VND) in 2023, of which healthcare tourism alone reached more than 830 billion USD (about 21.8 million billion VND).
In the period 2020-2022, spending on healthcare tourism grew by 36% per year, far exceeding the overall growth rate of the tourism industry.
Services such as healing, yoga, detox, high-end spa, meditation or resort combined with therapy are attracting groups of customers with high spending capacity.
According to experts, after the pandemic, tourists are increasingly prioritizing physical and mental health, making recovery vacations a quick "money-paying" option.
In addition to the resort factor, the need to find authentic local cultural experiences is also clearly increasing.
Homestay sleep tours, handicraft training, participating in traditional festivals or exploring the lives of indigenous people are being highly appreciated for their emotional connection.
In the group of services with fast decision-making speed, short-day travel (micro-cation) emerged as a noteworthy trend.
According to Future Market Insights, the global micro-cation market is forecast to reach nearly 75 billion USD (about 1.98 million billion VND) in 2025 and continue to increase sharply in the next decade.
This trend reflects the "fast trip - short rest - more experience" needs of modern tourists. 2-4 day tours, booked close to the departure date, are increasing sharply thanks to flexibility and suitability for financial capacity.
Data from Expedia Group shows that last-minute trip searches in less than 2 weeks increased sharply, especially for nearby destinations and reasonable costs.
In the high-end segment, the demand for luxury experiential travel continues to increase sharply. Instead of just looking for luxury hotels, wealthy customers currently prioritize exclusive, private and personalized experiences.
Resort trips by yacht, isolated resorts, high-class cultural discovery journeys or multi-generational tourism are becoming prominent trends.
Flywire's super-luxury travel report shows that 80% of high-end tourists plan to maintain or increase travel spending in 2025.
Notably, 92% of super-luxury customers believe that the true value of luxury tourism lies in the ability to access unique experiences, people and local culture, rather than just expensive accommodation.
