Bifurcation in travel is no longer a trend—it’s a structural shift showing up clearly in destination data. As traveler behavior diverges, the role of data must expand beyond reporting and into creative decision-making, shaping not just who destinations reach, but how they tell their story.
For months now, destinations have been seeing this split play out in real ways: some travelers are trading down, prioritizing value, predictability, and proximity, while others are still trading up, seeking experience, design, and emotional payoff. These two realities are happening at the same time, in the same markets, often within the same destination.
The challenge isn’t recognizing bifurcation. The challenge is what to do with it.
A Real-World Example: What Choice Hotels Got Right
The recent global campaign from Choice Hotels is a strong example of a brand responding to this moment with clarity.
Rather than forcing one message to serve every traveler, the campaign leans into the reality that different travelers want different things—right now. Across its portfolio, Choice acknowledges:
- One audience optimizing for value, affordability, and reliability
- Another audience prioritizing design, experience, and a sense of indulgence
What’s notable isn’t just the creative itself—it’s the discipline behind it. The messaging, visuals, and tone are aligned with how different travelers are actually behaving, not how brands wish they behaved.
That’s the lesson for destinations.
Where Destination Marketing Often Falls Behind
Many destinations are already talking about bifurcation internally. They see it in reports, dashboards, and performance reviews. But too often, it stops there.
Common gaps still show up:
- One destination story trying to speak to everyone
- “Value” positioned as a universal motivator
- Luxury treated as niche instead of parallel
- Aggregated metrics masking meaningful divergence
The result is creative that’s technically correct but strategically diluted. When everyone gets the same message, no one feels like it was meant for them.
In a bifurcated economy, that’s a liability.
We’ve Been Seeing This Clearly in the Data
At Tourism Economics, this divergence hasn’t been hypothetical. It’s been showing up consistently across destination performance for months.
Destinations are seeing bifurcation reflected in:
- Feeder markets behaving differently at the same time
- Length of stay compressing for some travelers and extending for others
- Price sensitivity rising in certain segments while remaining stable elsewhere
- Accommodation mix performance splitting between limited-service and higher-end properties
- Discretionary spend holding in some categories while pulling back in others
These aren’t isolated signals. They’re patterns.
And patterns like these shouldn’t just influence reporting—they should influence decisions.
When Data Should Influence Creative
This is where the conversation needs to shift.
Data shouldn’t stop at dashboards.
It should shape creative.
In a bifurcated travel economy, traveler behavior should inform:
- Which messages lead—and which follow
- What imagery is prioritized
- How experiences are framed
- The tone, pacing, and calls-to-action used
One audience may need reassurance: affordability, ease, and clarity.
Another may still respond to aspiration: uniqueness, design, and emotional reward.
Trying to split the difference often means missing both.
Choice Hotels didn’t just make a more polished campaign. They made a more precise one—because the creative reflects behavioral reality.
From Insight to Execution: What This Means for Destinations
This doesn’t require destinations to reinvent their brand. It requires them to rethink how insight flows into execution.
A few practical shifts:
- Segment before you create, not after
- Stop relying on averages to guide messaging
- Allow multiple creative paths when the data supports it
- Let behavior determine which story leads, and where
The destinations that perform best in this environment won’t be the loudest. They’ll be the most aligned.
The Takeaway: Precision Beats Scale
Bifurcation isn’t a passing phase—it’s a constraint destinations now operate within.
Generic creative underperforms.
Averages hide opportunity.
And data-led creative is no longer optional.
The brands—and destinations—that connect insight to execution will be better positioned to compete in a market that no longer moves in one direction.
The data is already telling the story.
The next step is letting it shape how that story gets told.
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