Published: May 28, 2024 | Updated: May 29, 2024
Read time: 5 minutes
Introduction
2024 is shaping up to be a strong year for the experience economy, according to The Mastercard Economics Institute’s fifth-annual travel report, Travel Trends 2024: Breaking Boundaries.
Nine out of the last 10 record-setting spending days in the global cruise and airline industry have occurred in 2024, and the Mastercard Economics Institute anticipates this momentum will continue. For the travel industry, tourism and the resilient consumer are the bright spots in the global macroeconomy with more people traveling than ever before.
Top global themes
Top themes in the Latin America and the Caribbean region
Here’s how the dynamics are playing out in Latin America and the Caribbean:
- The Latin America and the Caribbean region is a story of tourism highlighting inbound travel and affordability.
- Recreation is outperforming at locations closer to home than outside of the region, with budget friendliness and digitalization playing a role. International recreation within the region was only down 1.5% in March 2024 compared to March 2019. In the same timeframe, international recreation outside of the region is still down 13.1%.
- Argentina is attracting tourists from markets with stronger currencies, whereas international travel has become prohibitively expensive for many Argentinians. 26% more people traveled to Argentina from the United States & Canada in March 2024, compared to 2019 levels.
- Highlighting a broad-based travel recovery that is advancing across the entire Caribbean, hotel sales are outperforming in the islands with relatively more affordable hotel options. Hotel sales in countries with the lowest hotel prices grew 59% from March 2019 to March 2024, while hotel sales in countries with more expensive hotels only grew 34.2% over the same period.
Trending destinations in Latin America and the Caribbean
Spending while traveling
Consumer spending on travel remains strong. Some behaviors stand out:
- Experiential oriented spend – like nightlife – continues to gain importance over retail shopping in the priorities of travelers globally.
- The share of total sales attributed to global tourism spending on experiences as of March 2024 is 12% higher than ever before.
- There is much stronger demand for luxury over casual in markets like Japan and United Arab Emirates.
- The picture is mixed for dining out globally. Tourists favor a laid-back experience in countries like Spain and Brazil, whereas the fine dining scene is burgeoning in India.
Leisure for longer
Tourists and leisure travelers are enjoying more time on vacation. Here are some of the impacts:
- Longer trips are translating to an extra boost for destinations.
- Longer stays generally translate to more spend per trip and can translate to an economic boost for local economies.
- There is a clear inverse relationship between price of destination and days. Cheaper destinations = longer stays.
- In addition, the warmer the destination, the more time consumers tend to spend there.
For more insight and market analysis on the global tourism sector, view the Mastercard Economics Institute’s full “Travel Trends 2024: Breaking Boundaries” report.
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