A deep dive into the travelers using the FIFA World Cup as an excuse for a U.S. vacation
The last FIFA World Cup took place over an area of 4,400 square miles. During this summer’s edition, the lion’s share of the matches (78 from a total of 104) will be scattered over a country of 3.5 million square miles.
When you put it that way, it’s no wonder that so many travelers who plan to attend the World Cup in the U.S. also intend to make it their main vacation this year.
We used TACTIQ, our consumer travel tracker to look at this slice of tourists. TACTIQ reveals the habits, attitudes and behaviors of travelers from 12 of the biggest sources of tourists in the world – but for the purposes of this deep dive, we have excluded travelers from the World Cup host nations of the U.S., Canada and Mexico.
So let’s take a look at the plans of this segment – travelers intending to go to the World Cup and to make it their main vacation.
What kind of group will they travel with?
Almost two thirds of this group (62%) will be coming on this trip with their partner, while 44% will also be bringing their kids. Some are also making this a wider affair – a fifth (22%) will have other family members, like uncles, aunts, parents and grandparents tagging along.
Two fifths (38%) are coming with one or more friends (with a group of friends being more popular than a single buddy). Although members of this group are more likely to be male (56% vs. 44% female) than the average traveler it’s perhaps surprising that this segment is not more male dominated, given the make-up of typical soccer crowds.
What kind of accommodation are World Cup vacationers looking for?
There is no one-size-fits-all accommodation solution for these travelers – but there is a preponderance for the higher-end places to stay. More than two in five (41%) will opt for either luxury or upscale hotels, with only one in five (20%) seeking mid-scale hotels.
Just one in twenty are after a holiday rental – perhaps a reflection of the nomadic nature a World Cup vacation may take. If your team travels, so do you, and in that case the ease of checking in and out of a hotel may be more appealing.
The hotel brands that these travelers say they are most likely to book are Marriott (17%), Hilton (14%) and InterContinental (10%).
Where will World Cup vacationers go?
Just 15% of people who plan to make their World Cup trip their main vacation this year plan to watch only their own team play. The same proportion say that they’re only really interested in visiting major cities like New York, Los Angeles or San Francisco. A third of this segment plan to take internal flights within the U.S. to visit other places, while 32% say they’ll grab a car rental during their stay.
All this indicates that there’s good news for those destinations away from the major population centers and that places off the World Cup hosting track will also see the benefit of the tournament.
Away from the soccer, what do these travelers like doing?
These travelers will clearly be spending a good amount of time watching games. But away from fan zones, stadia and the TV, what else are they looking for?
More than two-thirds (67%) like to visit restaurants when they are on a sports trip – making it the most popular activity among this group. Seeing the sights and relaxing also rate highly (57% and 54% respectively).
What is perhaps most noteworthy here is the relative lack of interest in other sports-related activities. Stadium tours scrape into the top ten (39%) while visiting fan zones is only on the list of 28% of these travelers.
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What objections will marketers have to overcome with these travelers?
Many vacationers have concerns ahead of a trip and even if they are committing to making it their main holiday for the year, this group is no different.
The primary concern among these travelers is personal safety. More than a third (36%) cite this, ahead of flight delays and cancellations (34%) and the price of travel and accommodation (also 34%).
The price of tickets to the games is also of concern to more than three in ten (31%) so while many of these travelers are likely to have deep pockets, there is some worry about overall budgets.
I want their custom. How do I reach these travelers?
Finally, let’s look at how members of this segment plan their trips – so that marketers can better understand how to reach them.
These travelers are much more likely to use AI to inform their planning than other types of tourists – more than half said they use tools like Claude and ChatGPT to do so (52% vs. 26% of all global travelers).
They are also much more likely to use travel agents (45% vs. 27%), as well as listen to tips from social media (43% vs. 28%). Recommendations from friends and family figure highly (51%), as do destination websites (46%).
These travelers have ambitious plans and, in many cases, deep pockets to match. How far will they travel away from World Cup centers? To a certain extent, a lot depends on how their team performs.
For more insight into FIFA World Cup travellers, please get in touch.
TACTIQ allows users to discover a range of valuable insights about this audience, including which marketing channels are most effective, the barriers to making trips, the most popular types of purchase journey and the concerns and attitudes of these fans.
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