Your ideal travel customer may be easier to reach than you think.

Everybody says they they love travel, but some people actually demonstrate that with their spending. Anna Cashman, head of B2B brand insights for GetYourGuide, has dug deep into the data to find the “super spenders” that shape the group travel industry — and who are poised to be your best customers. She joins this episode of the podcast to share who these super spenders are and how you can reach them.

Anna shares the psychological characteristics that the best explorers have in common. She also suggests ideas for developing products and messaging that will resonate with those travelers. Plus, we have news about a new mid-market hotel brand from Hyatt; a Road Tip about avoiding overtourism in popular destinations; and a Hot Minute about the biggest challenge facing travel planners in 2025.

Anna had a lot of great insight about the people who consistently choose to spend money on travel experiences. Here’s what she said about who these people are and what drives them:

“We dub them super spenders. They are people who are prioritizing travel and experiences over other people and other categories….

We call them explorers, because they’re not the average tourist. They really want to get into a destination. They want to experience life as much as possible. They want to connect with the world, with the destination, with others, with themselves. And travel is a really, really important way for them to do that. It sort of fulfills a higher purpose in life.

These people aren’t defined by age, sex, location, ethnic background. It’s a set of values that really defines them and brings them together.”

Plus, she had insightful thoughts on:

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Read our new U.S. Civil Rights Trail Travel Guide here.

Find show notes for every episode of Gather and Go at grouptravelleader.com/podcast.

2:13 — Travel News: Hyatt is launching a new mid-market hotel brand

3:30 — Road Tip: Avoiding overtourism in crowded destinations

9:41 — A new Civil Rights Trail travel guide

14:24 — How GetYourGuide leverages tech for group travel experiences

16:05 — Using customer data to see travel trends

19:32 — Why travel spending stays high when other categories are falling

23:05 — The “super-spenders” shaping the group travel experience

25:40 — Why a travel experience starts long before you leave home

28:51 — Crafting tours and messaging to reach group travel super-spenders

32:02 — Why value matters more than price in attracting your best customers

50:11 — Hot Minute: The biggest challenge facing today’s group travel planners

See the full interview with Anna, including content not in the regular episode, on our YouTube channel.

Thanks to our sponsor Collette for making this episode possible. Learn more about working with with Collette for your travel program at gocollette.com/groups.

Gather and Go with Brian Jewell is a tourism industry podcast that helps group travel leaders plan, promote and lead better trips. There are also tips and insights for destination marketers and others who support the tourism trade. Each episode reaches thousands of professional tour operators, travel agents and the volunteer group leaders they serve. The audience also includes destination museum leaders, church travel leaders and other tourism enthusiasts around the world. Each show includes an interview with a smart travel pro or an insightful person from outside tourism who’s expertise can help make travel businesses better. You’ll also hear travel news, road tips and more. New episodes are released about twice monthly.

You can find Gather and Go wherever your listen to podcasts or subscribe by email.