A NEW WAY OF CONSUMING LEISURE TRAVEL
Immediate access to a wide variety of travel content through the massive use of technology has significantly changed the way tourists approach leisure travel consumption. Dreaming, planning, booking, experiencing and sharing are stages through which every traveler passes today, whatever their typology, sociodemographic variable and habits or behavior.
The times when travelers had to wait for the brochures that tour operators distributed to travel agencies to hit the streets are far behind us, and these brochures were handed out to clients, who had the only opportunity to take a look at the different vacation options. Today, any aspect related to our trip is consulted on the web, regardless of the channel chosen for the reservation.
The ease with which we can access travel information today has created a new ecosystem of leisure travel consumption, from the first phase of dreaming the trip, through the planning stage, and then moving on to the booking, which will later lead to the enjoyment of the trip, and in recent times ends at the time of sharing the trip, either through the more traditional forms such as friends and family, or through the popular social networks, with comments, or by uploading photos or videos showing the experiences themselves.
THE BRAINTRUST BAROMETER
According to data from our BRAINTRUST Tourist Barometer, Spaniards are spending more and more time dreaming and planning their trip, dedicating more than a third of their time to both phases, leaving a meager 10% of the time to the reserve, and the rest to enjoying and leaving the trail of the trip in the corresponding channels.
At the moment of conception or dreaming, which is the basis on which a trip is based, 21st century tourists are more likely to consider new destinations at this early stage, as they find inspiring content in different media, blogs and social channels, a moment unthinkable a few years ago where no one had access to information to conceive their dreams around the world.
We already dedicate 18% of the total time we spend on the trip to this phase, a stage where brands have the opportunity to connect with travelers and impact them on an emotional level where the right brain plays an important role, and where suppliers can manage that fundamental component of a trip, proposing a unique and differential experience that then compensates the price we are going to pay for it, a dilemma that will arise in the following phases

Immediately after the travelers, we proceed to the planning of the trip (planning), stage to which the travelers assign another 18% of our time, are moments in which once decided that destination and that trip, it is necessary to put in the radar all the options to choose those that more interest us. The brands that have inspired us to dream the trip will be very present, as they will have left an indelible mark.
In this planning period, information is contrasted based on stories, photos and opinions. The ratings of real individuals generate greater reliability than any information provided by companies or professional articles. The options are multiple, frighteningly unmanageable, so experts are needed to help us simplify the process. It is a moment where our left hemisphere begins to appear, trying to put order and logic to all the dreams that flooded our minds in the early stage of conception of the trip.
Here we value not only the contact with people as it has been usual, but also the optimization of the latest technologies that help in a very valuable way in this process, those who cannot live without them, and those who cannot live without them.
According to the BRAINTRUST Barometer, at the moment of making the reservation, we take into account more intangible aspects such as the product, the range of offer, the advice, the security, the speed, the flexibility, the guarantees, and of course more tangible aspects such as the price, which, according to the Barometer data, is the most relevant factor for only 35% of travelers, so the most emotional areas summarized in confidence become crucial factors for the traveler when choosing one option or another, and not just the price, knowing that the selection will be made that yes, among the most competitive offers.
For the Spanish tourist, taking care of the “booking” only means an investment of 10%, a fact also linked to the immediacy provided by many of the purchase channels.
TRAVELERS’ BEHAVIORS ACCORDING TO THE BRAINTRUST BAROMETER
Regarding gender, women invest more than men in the planning (18.5%), booking (10.7%) and sharing (9.5%) blocks. Men are positioned higher in the conception and experience stages.
If we analyze preferences by age, adults between 35 and 44 are the ones who “dream” the most about their trips (18.4%), closely followed by young people from 25 to 34. The 18 to 24 age group devotes a significant period to planning (18.7%), while in booking there are no major differences across the age spectrum, which as mentioned above reaches an average of 10%.
In experiencing, those over 45 are in the lead, dedicating 47.7%, and young people between 18 and 24 years old are the ones who share the most (9.8%), with those over 55 years old three points apart. This last data is significant when it comes to understanding the new habits generated from the deep digital transformation that surrounds us.