Short and overland trips heat up post-pandemic tourism – 03/23/2023 – Tourism

The number of Brazilians with travel plans grew 10% compared to 2019. This growth is mainly driven by those who previously did not have the habit of traveling and who, now, can’t wait to pack their bags – which is changing the profile of the Brazilian tourist.

The “new travelers” in Brazil are mainly from generation Z (28%) or over 65 years old (7%) – audiences that, in general, manage to get around financial difficulties, either by taking advantage of more flexibility in dates or planning with more advance. 82% of this new public comes from classes C and D, and a good part of them live in the Midwest, Northeast and North.

The data are from a study commissioned by Google and released this Thursday (23) at the Think Travel event, at the headquarters of big tech in São Paulo.

Considering insights collected from searches made on the search engine, the study also revealed the types of trips that Brazilians are planning. Between the pre-pandemic and the present day, searches for routes within a distance of up to 250km jumped 156%, and searches for “3-day trips” also grew by 130%. Meanwhile, routes of 3500km or more (mostly international ones) had a 77% drop in searches.

“The behavioral impulse after the pandemic confinement is bringing new people to the tourism industry, but the trips are shorter, more terrestrial and more emotional, such as religious trips, or to go to some musical or sports event”, analyzes Aline Prado , leader of insights for the travel segment at Google Brazil.

The executive points out that, since 2021, searches for “suitcase” have exploded, reaching a historic peak in 2022, which demonstrates the size of the pent-up demand. Before even knowing which trip to take, people were already dreaming – and planning – the trip.

“This strong emotional component will make these travelers find a way to make these trips viable. If a place is expensive, where else is it possible to go? The motto is to travel more with less”, explains Prado.

The majority of Gen Z (29%) want to escape the obvious and travel to unusual destinations within Brazil, while 27% are interested in ecotourism trips. 16% want to travel to Latin America, and 12% to Africa and Asia – a seemingly small number, but double that of previous generations.

Despite having a smaller budget, this audience is more sensitive to bad experiences and seeks accommodation with a good aesthetic standard. No wonder, there has never been so much demand for traditional hotels (+97% at the beginning of 2022, compared to the same period in 2019); at the same time, searches for vacation rentals are down – the survey doesn’t say by how much.

“On shorter trips, accommodation is the center of planning, because people mainly want to experience a nice and well-located place”, explains Prado. “This happens due to the lower purchasing power of these new travelers, which shortens the trip and leaves ‘how to get there in the background’.”

The New Thousands

Between the “behavioral impulse” of wanting to travel and the budget restrictions brought about by the country’s economic situation, one of the solutions found by new travelers is to finance at least part of the trip with the rewards of the mileage and loyalty programs, which have been the gateway of tourism for new travelers.

About 11% of those who started traveling after the pandemic have used reward programs to finance their trips, and 5% are able to finance all travel costs through them. Among those who use these tools, 75% prefer bank and financial institution programs, while 38% use airline programs.