Travellers sit among advertisers’ most prized consumer groups. That is the headline takeaway from a study of 3,500 people in seven countries by Expedia Group Advertising. The travel context triggers spend well beyond transport and accommodation, with travellers allocating an average of $500 to non‑travel purchases out of roughly $2,000 per trip. These behaviours show up across the journey, from planning to return, and are especially pronounced among Generation Z and Millennials.
Before departure, the most‑purchased categories are clothing, shoes and accessories (70%), beauty and personal care (63%), travel gear (53%) and electronics and new tech (39%). This preparation phase, which Expedia describes as a “magic window” for marketers, combines the certainty of a future plan with the anticipation of practical and status‑led needs.
“Travel planning is one of the most powerful consumer intent signals today. Our study shows that the opportunities created by travel go well beyond the trip itself,” said Jennifer Andre, vice‑president of sales at Expedia Group Advertising. “When consumers start planning a trip, they enter a prolonged period of high‑potential shopping across many categories.”
Consumers who welcome advertising
While travelling, spend shifts into other categories, with local retail leading (66%) and packaged food and drink next (61%). Interest in advertising does not stop once the suitcase is back in the cupboard. Among travellers who made a purchase related to their last trip, 72% say they also made one after returning home, a share that rises to 87% for Generation Z. Post‑trip purchases include food and drink discovered on the trip (40%), clothing or accessories inspired by brands or styles encountered while away (30%), and photo prints, books or frames (27%). According to Expedia, travel acts as a long‑tail inspiration trigger that can sustain brand discovery and conversion well beyond the holiday itself.
The ad business also stresses travellers’ receptiveness to commercial messages. The study indicates that 71% use travel websites or apps to get ideas or information for non‑travel purchases before they go. Travellers are not closed to non‑travel ads in that environment, provided they are relevant. According to the report, 60% feel such offers can provide useful ideas or inspiration for their trip, 58% say they help them remember things to buy, and 57% say they can help them save on products or services they would have bought anyway.
“They are not only open to relevant advertising; they genuinely find it useful,” Andre said. “Brands outside the travel industry have every reason to reach this audience, and Expedia Group Advertising gives them the tools to do so at scale.”
To that end, Expedia Group Advertising offers access to its first‑party data from Expedia Group brands such as Expedia, Hotels.com and Vrbo, as well as offsite audiences across the open web via partnerships. The report highlights an average 12 million daily visitors to the group’s sites, alongside qualified traveller segments, including business travellers and group planners.
This positioning mirrors the rise of retail media networks and, more broadly, the monetisation of contextualised audiences. In a landscape where other travel platforms and e‑commerce players are also commercialising their first‑party data, Expedia is betting on the specificity of the travel context — planned preparation, high basket sizes and concrete needs at multiple stages — as a way for non‑travel brands to reach engaged consumers in a setting that is seen as useful and inspirational.
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