ACHIEVEMENT TOURISM: Why the next generation of travellers is all about goals

Tourism is an ever-changing business. While vacationers used to be content with lounging on a beach, rum cocktail in hand, they are now more aware, more demanding and more conscious of their impact – forcing operators in the space to keep a close eye on trends and niches. Tourism analysts predict that the 2020 tourist will make decisions based not just on their wallet, but also a deeper need for personal fulfilment, planning trips with their heart as much as their head. They want to learn new skills, have unforgettable experiences and do something completely out of the box. Saint Lucia is ideally placed to hone in on this brand of ‘achievement tourism’ with a raft of unique offerings that allow visitors to more fully engage with the island’s people and its environment.

Transformative travel

A close cousin to experiential tourism – where travellers are looking to experience a new activity, culture or place – achievement tourism takes it one step further as ambitious tourists push themselves to reach new goals in an unfamiliar environment.

This could mean gaining a qualification or certification in a certain area, fulfilling a long-held life goal, ticking items off a bucket list or simply doing something challenging. These tourists want to engage with their destination and go home with bragging rights. 

According to a recent survey from the Expedia Group, the top three concerns for tourists when they book a trip are the activities they will be participating in, having a ‘once in a lifetime’ experience and engaging with local culture. In addition, around 70 per cent of tourists from the major markets of the US, the UK and Canada are looking for bucket list experiences. 

Acquiring a new skill is also high on the list of priorities, according to TripAdvisor’s Experiences Trends Report which shows that bookings for classes and workshops spiked in 2019 – growing 90 per cent from the previous year. The world’s most booked class and workshop was Roman Gladiator School, a family-friendly course that teaches fighting techniques in a Gladiator School close to the Roman Colosseum. Other popular options on the booking site included salsa lessons in San Juan, surfing at Sydney’s Bondi Beach and a pottery class in Cambodia.

Aside from classes and workshops, TripAdvisor data show that the fastest growing segments in the experiential/achievement niche are offerings that are family-friendly, centred around wellness and cultural or themed activities. Outdoor activities, food and wine trips and sailing/watersports also saw growth.

What does this mean for Saint Lucia?

Saint Lucia is tailor-made to jump on the achievement tourism bandwagon. The traveller who wants a skill rather than a souvenir presents an opportunity to teach visitors about the island’s industry and history. 

The cocoa sector has been particularly pro-active in maximising these kinds of opportunities. The Hotel Chocolat-owned Rabot Estate offers a ‘bean to bar’ tour where tourists can make their own chocolate bar from beans they roasted themselves. Similarly, the Emerald Estate farm at Anse Chastanet allows guests to get involved in its Chocolate Lab and make their own confections.

Food and Drink is a fast-growing segment of tourism as visitors realise that one way to get to know a destination is by eating with the locals. The Little Lucian cooking class instructs would-be chefs in the art of Caribbean cuisine, as does Cook Like a Lucian, Flavours of St Lucia and Spices Cooking School.

Skill-hunters can also check out Saint Lucia’s aquatic offerings by gaining a dive qualification, taking a course on the basics of sailing, learning to sportsfish or getting to grips with kitesurfing. 

Outdoorsy tourists are also likely to be looking for those bucket list items and top of that list has to be hiking a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The iconic Pitons are a chance for visitors to set foot on unique volcanic formations while testing themselves with a 2,526ft hike up the more traversible Gros Piton. Less strenuous, but no less memorable, are the Sulphur Springs where visitors can take a dip in a natural spa and mud bath.

The Saint Lucia Tourism Authority has been pushing its festival calendar as part of a recent marketing drive to funnel tourists into local activities and this can also align with the achievement crowd, some of whom consider it a bucket list item to attend a genuine Caribbean carnival. 

Future trends

It’s not just festivals that can leverage adventurous tourists; like most niches in the wide and complex tourism market, achievement tourism dovetails neatly with several other upcoming sub-sectors and trends. 

Heading into the next decade, tourism tech will move more to the forefront of the industry. Virtual and augmented reality will allow visitors access to experiences that may have previously been out of reach, such as extreme sports, while a focus on personalised marketing using big data will help experiential tourists select and customise their own adventures, as well as recommending new options tailored to their needs. Online operator Booking.com recently polled 22,000 users and found that 59 per cent wanted technology to offer them a ‘wildcard’ to introduce them to something entirely new, while 44 per cent intended to use an app to pre-plan their destination activities.

Luxury travel network Virtuoso predicts that 2020 will see a boom in ‘carpe diem’ travel and identified six core trends that will affect the market next year. These include the desire to develop an emotional connection with a destination, celebrate a milestone and have an adventure. Luckily for Saint Lucia, it’s capable of delivering on all three.