For a long time, travel was about going somewhere—a checklist of landmarks, a passport full of stamps, a sunset photo in an iconic spot. But according to Skift’s latest State of Travel 2026 report, the way we think about travel is changing in a deeply human way. Across the globe, cultural immersion is now the leading travel priority, consistently ranking ahead of adventure and luxury-seeking in just about every major market. That doesn’t mean people no longer want excitement or indulgence; it means that more and more, travelers are looking for something meaningful beneath the surface. In Asia, as many as 50% of travelers are classified as cultural immersion travelers, compared to 32% who prioritize adventure and 30% who are chasing luxury experiences. The same pattern emerges elsewhere: 42% in the Middle East and North Africa, 39% in North America, and 36% in Europe are drawn to cultural immersion above all else. It’s a quiet but powerful shift. The souvenir may still be a magnet or a mug, but the real keepsake travelers are after is a feeling—an understanding of how people actually live, what they value, what they eat, and what makes their culture tick.
This hunger for authenticity is showing up in how people spend their time and money once they reach a destination. When Skift asked travelers which experiences they were most likely to splurge on, food and culinary experiences came out on top by a wide margin—71% of respondents said they would spend on food, far ahead of adventure and nature at 48%, arts, culture and history at 42%, live events and entertainment at 36%, health and wellness at 36%, and sports at just 24%. That’s telling. In an era of curated Instagram grids and fast content, people are still most excited about sitting down to a real meal—tasting the local street food, taking a cooking class, visiting a market, or sharing a table with strangers. Food isn’t just fuel anymore; it’s a language, a doorway into a culture. The report also notes that the most in-demand experiences combine culture with authentic luxury, wellness, and nature. It’s no longer just about staying in a fancy hotel; it’s about staying somewhere that has a story, maybe with a chef who took you to the market that morning, or a natural site that is sacred to the people who live there. Experiences, according to Skift, now dominate travel decision-making—43% of travelers say experiences are the most important part of travel for them. In other words, the destination matters less than what happens there. Travel is becoming less about accumulating places and more about collecting moments that shape how we see the world.
At the same time, the report calls 2026 the “year of intelligence,” nodding to the rapid rise of AI in travel. The numbers are striking: 62% of global travelers say they are familiar with AI travel-planning tools, and among high-income travelers who know such tools, 81% have used them to plan a journey. AI can build detailed itineraries, find hidden-gem restaurants, compare flights, and map out a day down to the minute. But here’s the interesting part: all that technology isn’t making travel more sterile or algorithm-driven. If anything, Skift suggests, it’s developing side by side with a growing desire for authenticity. The report describes authenticity as the “north star” of travel experiences, and it suggests that travelers are shifting away from placing a premium on places—the famous sights, the recognizable skyline—and toward prioritizing specific experiences and emotional attractiveness. We want trips that feel real, even when we plan them with AI. Jean-Jacques Morin, group deputy CEO at Accor, captured this moment nicely: “Traveller behaviour is evolving, marked by rising demand for AI-driven personalisation and a shift toward more sustainable choices.” He pointed to two emerging travel trends that say a lot about the current mood—“dupe destinations,” less crowded, more affordable alternatives to popular hotspots, and “coolcations,” vacations in cooler climates as travelers try to avoid extreme heat. Both trends are deeply human responses to a changing world: we want the magic of travel, but we also want comfort, breathing room, and a sense that we haven’t simply joined a crowd.
Social media has also become something far bigger than a source of pretty pictures and vacation inspiration—it has evolved into a full-fledged travel-planning tool. According to Skift’s research, 63% of travelers now use social media to get destination ideas and inspiration, while 56% use it to find specific experiences, restaurants, or things to do. Around 45% use it to compare hotels and accommodations. And the list goes on: people watch travel vlogs and detailed itineraries, search for deals and promotions, follow travel influencers for recommendations, and read reviews or watch user-generated content before making decisions. This is social media not as a dreamy escape but as a practical guidebook, constantly updated by real people in real time. The report even pointed to a striking example of just how much pull social media has: IShowSpeed’s 12-hour livestream, powered by Expedia, during his Caribbean tour of Dominica, Guadeloupe, St. Kitts & Nevis, and St. Maarten. A staggering 400 million people tuned in. In the immediate aftermath, searches for St. Maarten jumped 70%, while Guadeloupe and Dominica saw search increases of 50% and 35%, respectively. One stream moved the needle for entire island economies. That’s the kind of influence no tourism board could have bought or even dreamed of a decade ago.
But there’s a shadow side to this new power. The same social platforms that can put an unknown village, a quiet beach, or a tiny family-run restaurant on the map can also ruin it in record time. Skift put it bluntly: “Social media has destabilised the discovery cycle.” A place can become famous on social media within weeks, and within months it can feel overexposed, swarming with visitors, overwhelmed by the very attention that once made it so appealing. The report notes that “oversaturated destinations” are starting to introduce visitor fees and caps, and that these measures, while sometimes necessary, can also damage the image of a tourist hub. When a place becomes known for turnstiles and entry limits, it loses a little of its soul. And so travelers, again, adapt. Instead of heading toward the wider-known, heavily-listed destinations, they are increasingly turning to hidden alternatives—spots with unique experiences that haven’t yet been flattened by virality. It’s a strange and somewhat ironic loop: we all want the place nobody knows about, but once we go there and post about it, it becomes the place everybody knows about. The desire for discovery is real, but so is the desire for solitude, authenticity, and a sense that we’ve found something for ourselves.
In the end, the big takeaway from Skift’s report is that travel is becoming more thoughtful, more personal, and more emotionally driven. We may use AI to build the itinerary, scroll through social media to narrow down the choices, and hunt for the perfect “dupe destination” to avoid the crowds, but the underlying goal hasn’t changed. We want to feel something real. We want to taste food we can’t get at home, meet people whose stories broaden our own, and come back with more than just photos—maybe a new recipe, a new perspective, or a new appreciation for how the rest of the world lives. The growth of cultural immersion as the top travel priority is not just a trend; it’s a sign that travelers are increasingly looking for depth over distance. We’re less interested in seeing everything and more interested in truly experiencing something. The report says experiences now dominate travel decision-making, and that authenticity is the north star. That’s a beautiful way to think about the future of travel. The destinations we love best may not be the ones with the most famous landmarks, but the ones where we felt welcome, where the food tasted alive, where the place itself seemed to speak to us. Technology will keep changing how we get there, but the deepest desire remains wonderfully human—to travel not just to see a new place, but to understand it, and perhaps, in the process, understand ourselves a little better.
