Adventure Travel is Losing its Edge
Key Takeaways
The share of travelers who are going on a trip to seek adventure declined by 7 points between November 2021 and November 2024.
Adventure travelers are 5 points more likely to be high earners than non-adventure travelers, with 23% making more than $100,000 per year.
Higher-order brand promises are more important for adventure travelers when booking — they are more likely than other travelers to say past experience with a brand is a “top priority” when booking.
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Adventure travel, once synonymous with high-risk activities like bungee jumping and cliff diving, is evolving beyond its adrenaline-fueled roots. Today's travelers see adventure more broadly, seeking excitement in the form of everything from cultural immersion to off-the-grid escapes. In other words, adventure travel is becoming less of a singularly-defined niche and more integrated into mainstream tourism trends, signaling a shift in relevance across the industry. Now, travelers are less likely to be driven solely by adventure, and more likely to integrate it into broader trip plans.
Adventure is losing some steam as a singular travel motivator
There are myriad reasons why people travel. Some motivators, like relaxation, escape and spending time with loved ones, are evergreen and relevant across all demographics. But other, more specific drivers vary by traveler and fluctuate over time along with broader travel trends and preferences.
Adventure travel is one of those motivators, and while it remains more popular than others in comparison, it’s lost some relevance in the past three years. In November of 2021, 31% of consumers with leisure travel plans in the coming year said they were traveling to seek adventure. In November of 2024, the share had fallen 7 points to 24%. Over the same time period, some other motivators have held steady and even risen: traveling to improve physical health is up 3 percentage points, and while the overall share of those who aim to travel to improve their mental health hasn’t changed, it has now overtaken adventure in popularity.
Adventure travel is drawing fewer consumers
That’s not to say travel motivators are mutually exclusive. A person can seek a combination of luxury, adventure and mental wellness on the same journey. In fact it’s rare that a traveler has one single need or motivation for a particular trip. Additionally, the definition of “adventure” can be different for different travelers. While some may still think of it in the traditional sense, involving extreme sports and the like, others find adventure in stepping outside of their comfort zone. Going to a well-trodden tourist destination but trying a new and exotic food, for example, may be considered adventurous by many.
Accordingly, adventure travelers are likely to say they’re traveling for other reasons — the share who say they’re traveling for their mental health is 18 points higher than among other travelers, and they’re 22 points more likely to say they seek cultural experiences. From a marketing perspective, this means adventure can be woven into messaging about all kinds of trips, rather than simply being confined to content about bungee jumping and white water rafting.
The adventure travel demographic is broad
While the idea of adventure travel may drum up a specific demographic in marketers’ minds, in reality there are travelers of all demographics who seek adventure on the road. When comparing consumers who plan to travel for adventure in the next year with those who have travel plans but are not seeking adventure, the demographic profile does lean slightly male — only by 3 percentage points though.
The generational breakdown is also not as stark as one may assume. While adventure travel is often attributed to twentysomethings who seek the best bungee jumping locale, for example, the audience actually spans generations. While Gen Zers and millennials do over-index relative to non-adventure travelers, more than half of those traveling for adventure are Gen Xers and baby boomers. Notably, parents also over-index, which may reflect the relative size of millennials in the group, but also raise the point that travelers aren’t losing their sense of adventure and exploration when they have kids.
Adventure travelers skew younger, higher income
One clear difference is in income levels. Adventure travelers are 5 points more likely to be high earners than non-adventure travelers, with 23% making more than $100,000 per year. Further cutting of income groups reveals that those making between $150,000 and $200,000 are the group most likely to seek adventure travel.
This sweet spot, high earners but not super affluent, encompasses a group of travelers who likely go on multiple trips per year and are more likely to travel further from home (ie: take an international trip), further raising the opportunity to seek adventure of all kinds while traveling.
That said, brands cannot ignore that a plurality of adventure travelers are those making less than $50,000 per year, further underscoring the idea that adventure and excitement have broad appeal, and can be integrated into messaging, products and services targeting a wide swathe of travelers.
Adventure seekers are more discerning than other travelers when booking
In order to engage with adventure travelers, brands must understand what they prioritize when booking travel. And while the overall ranking of priorities mostly mirrors that for non-adventure travelers, this group is overall more discerning — in other words, they are more likely than their counterparts to say nearly every factor is a “top priority.”
Adventure travelers are more likely to consider most factors a “top priority”
That said, the areas where there is more differentiation between the groups reveal more unique motivators for adventure travelers. When booking both transportation and accommodation, prior experience with a particular brand is more differentiated for adventure travelers than for others, suggesting that the relationship they have with travel brands is deeper and more influential to the planning process. It also means brands must be sure to overdeliver when it comes to customer experience, since this will play a role in their future decisions.
Adventure travelers’ brand perceptions go beyond their own lived experience. For both transportation and accommodations, these consumers are also more likely than other travelers to say the way a brand treats its employees is a top priority. This discerning approach reveals a highly engaged traveler who, while still primarily driven by logistical considerations like price and schedule, are also attuned to higher-order brand promises.
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Lindsey Roeschke is an analyst whose work focuses on behavior and expectations of consumers in the travel & hospitality and food & beverage categories, particularly through a generational and cultural lens. Prior to joining Morning Consult, she served as a director of consumer and culture analysis at Gartner. In addition to her research and advisory background, Lindsey has more than a decade of experience in the advertising world. She has lived and worked in seven cities across four continents.
