Reaching Leisure Travelers in Summer 2026 and Beyond

With spring in full swing, the excitement for travel is unmistakable. As consumers gear up for long-awaited summer vacations and beyond, it’s clear that travel is more than just a seasonal priority; it’s a top spending category. According to NerdWallet data, nearly half of American adults plan to travel during the summer of 2026, spending on average, $3,940 for those getaways.

Despite ongoing concerns, the travel industry continues to show strong growth. In fact, more than half (56%) of Americans plan to travel more or at least as much compared to the past two years. Let’s take a closer look at the trends shaping this year’s travel landscape and how travel advertisers can stay ahead.

5 Travel Trends You Can’t Ignore This Summer

Travel demand is strong, but how people plan, book, and pay for trips is shifting in ways that matter for advertisers. Today’s traveler is more intentional, more flexible, and more financially strategic than ever before.

Flexible Booking Is Non-Negotiable

While travelers are booking earlier, they are not locking themselves in. Flexibility has become a baseline expectation, not a perk.

A majority of Americans say it is worth paying extra for refundable flights (67%) and travel insurance (62%), reinforcing that peace of mind is a priority when planning trips. Nearly 40% also cite free cancellation and easy rebooking as must-have features.

This creates a new dynamic. Travelers are committing earlier in the funnel, but they are keeping their options open. For advertisers, that means the booking journey is no longer linear. It is fluid, with multiple decision points along the way.

Smarter Spending and Payment Behavior

Travel remains a top spending category, but consumers are becoming more strategic in how they pay.

The majority of 2026 summer travelers (84%) plan to use credit cards for at least part of their trip, making it the dominant payment method. At the same time, nearly half of Americans (48%) say travel points and miles programs are too complicated to navigate, with even higher frustration among Gen Z.

This signals a gap between intent and usability. Travelers want to maximize value, but they do not always know how. Brands that simplify savings, rewards, or payment options have a clear opportunity to stand out.

Experience-First, But With Intent

Travelers are still prioritizing experiences, but they are doing so more thoughtfully.

Nearly half (49%) plan to spend more on their next trip, with Gen Z and Millennials leading the way. However, this does not mean impulsive spending. Travelers are weighing cost against value, prioritizing experiences that feel worth the investment.

Shorter trips are also making a comeback, with 2 to 3-night getaways reflecting a return to more frequent, intentional travel rather than one large annual vacation.

AI Is Quietly Reshaping Trip Planning

Technology is removing friction across the travel journey.

According to Amadeus research, more travelers are using generative AI to plan and book trips, while platforms like Expedia and Booking.com continue integrating tools like ChatGPT into their experiences.

From real-time translation to digital check-ins, AI is streamlining decisions and reducing the effort required to plan a trip. The result is faster, more informed booking behavior, often happening across multiple touchpoints in a shorter window.

The Return of the Road Trip

Not all travel trends are digital.

Hilton’s 2026 Trends Report highlights a resurgence in road trips, with #RoadTrip surpassing 5.9 million tags globally. Travelers are rediscovering the flexibility and control that comes with driving, especially for shorter or regional trips.

This shift reinforces a broader theme: travelers want options. Whether it is how they book, how they pay, or how they travel, control is becoming a defining factor in decision-making.

10 Tactics for Travel Marketers in 2025

The digital landscape not only opened doors for travelers to book and research their trips but also for advertisers to reach audiences at the right moment. Understanding these crucial travel trends and then knowing how to apply them in today’s customer journey ensures you reach your audience as they browse, research, and ultimately book their getaways. 

Below, we’ve outlined ten digital strategies that travel marketers should consider implementing before the busy summer ahead. 

1. Paid Social

Social media influences travel decisions more than ever. In fact, 88% of Gen Z follow at least one travel influencer on TikTok. Paid social strategies—powered by custom, lookalike, and first-party audiences—are essential to stand out in crowded feeds.

While having a social media presence is great to encourage engagement with active social media users, a paid social strategy helps amplify your reach. Proprietary audiences within social platforms combined with custom audiences, lookalike audiences, first-party data, and more, provide travel brands a great opportunity to reach new prospects while they browse their feeds and drive them to their website or profiles.

2. Paid Search 

Although consumers are willing to spend more on travel in 2025, they’ll still spend time searching for the best deals and experiences. Implementing broad and phrase match technology to your paid search tactics ensures you reach the widest audience. As your ads are eligible to appear whenever a user searches any word in your key phrase, in any order. 

• Broad Match is the default setting that uses any word within your keyword phrase in any order. For example, “goat yoga in Oakland” will match “goat yoga” or “yoga Oakland.”
• Phrase Match will match with queries that include your keyword phrase in the exact order but may include additional words before or after it. For example, “goat yoga” can yield “spotted goat yoga” or “goat yoga with puppies.”

3. Location-Based Targeting

Create custom location-based audiences by setting a specific radius that can be targeted on display or mobile devices. This gives marketers the ability to target consumer based on a variety of factors including: 

• people currently traveling in a destination
• people who have previously traveled to a destination
• people within driving distance to a destination
• people living in a region that regularly travel to a particular destination

4. Behavioral Targeting

When looking at your target audience, which stage in the travel planning process are they currently in? Are they making broad searches about beach vacations or have they already visited your site, clicked your ad, and narrowed down their options? 

With behavioral targeting, you can leverage web search, purchase history, mobile app ownership, and web visit data to create and deliver brand messaging to consumers who have shown the most interest in your travel brand.

5. CRM Targeting

Brands can onboard first-party CRM data to target and personalize ads to lapse or loyal customers. This data can be used for campaigns like email marketing to deliver data-driven targeting promotions, booking updates, and tailored industry information.

6. Dynamic Segmentation

Develop custom segments based on observed behaviors to reach the most qualified travelers. For example, if a consumer visits a travel booking site but does not complete their booking, a particular ad is served to drive traffic back to the site to complete the booking. 

7. Transactional Data

More than half of travelers (51% to be exact) prefer using credit cards when booking leisure trips or vacations. By leveraging custom 3rd party data segments based on transaction history and credit card purchases, you can target potential customers with relevant travel offerings. These segments can be tailored to include travel-related purchases, such as flight bookings, hotel stays, rental car reservations, and more, to ensure that your advertising efforts reach those most likely to be interested in your travel products and services.

8. Automatic Content Recognition

More than three-fourths of consumers planning to travel domestically or abroad within the next 12 months watch ad-supported advanced TV. As consumers stream TV across different devices and platforms, ACR technology ensures you capture audiences that have been exposed to your or your competitors’ TV ads, regardless of the device they’re using. 

9. Dynamic Creative Optimization (DCO)

DCO technology creates personalized ads based on data about the viewer at the moment when ads are served. This gives brands the ability to quickly iterate on which ad creative they are displaying based on the user’s intent, showcasing the different ways you are meeting their expectations. 

10. Site Retargeting

Use pixel-based retargeting to reach consumers who have previously visited or engaged with our website, researched booking, and/or requested information as they continue their travel planning. This allows you to deliver personalized ads based on previous actions made by the consumers to guide them further down the funnel.

Digilant’s Expertise in Travel Marketing

At Digilant, we specialize in helping brands reach modern travelers with smart data, omnichannel strategies, and impactful creative. Our partnerships with travel data leaders like Adara, Expedia, and TripAdvisor give you access to exclusive audience insights, combined with real-time performance reporting to ensure your campaigns are always optimized.