SOUND
BOUND
The Music Trend
Forget the stadium. Travellers are chasing the soundtrack of a destination instead. From underground jazz clubs and warehouse gigs to forest festivals, music travel is helping people tune into new places in increasingly authentic ways.
Music tourism
insights
For nearly a third of travellers planning a music-focused trip, the genre of music is the most important booking factor
Insight
Rio Carnival drove more destination searches than any other festival in 2026
“Destination-associated genres are not only significantly larger than they were five years ago, but several continue to gain momentum between 2025 and 2026.”
Year-on-year increase in video views featuring #ListeningBar
Around a quarter of travellers prefer music-based experiences in unique venues such as volcanoes, pyramids or caves.
Just over a fifth Gen X travellers prefer music-based experiences in local bars.
Carnival experiences ranked highly for:
Insights
The genre of music is the most important factor when booking a music-focused trip for 32% of travellers and 31% of Gen X.
Cultural immersion is the most important factor for one in five Gen Z travellers planning a music-focused trip.
Gig tripping: The festivals driving destination searches
These celebrations are generating the biggest seasonal spikes in demand.1
Year-on-year search increase
-
+108%
Rio Carnival 2026
-
+58%
Baranquilla Carnival
-
+51%
Mardi Gras
-
+41%
Balkan Beats
-
+35%
Organik Festival
K-Pop is driving the highest travel demand
Music fans are turning concerts into getaways, and K-Pop is leading the way. Peak uplift shows how much travel demand increased around each event.2
Peak uplift
-
19x
NMIXX
Irving, Texas, 4 April 2026
-
8x
IVE
Inglewood, California, 1 August 2026
-
5x
Peso Pluma
Fresno, California, 10 March 2026
-
4x
ENHYPEN
San Diego, California, 21 July 2026
Searches to Bad Bunny’s homeland of Puerto Rico surged 150% following the Super Bowl halftime show.3
Local sounds are finding global audiences. These culturally rooted genres have seen some of the biggest growth in worldwide streaming over the past five years (2021-2026):4
Year-on-year search increase
-
+32742%
Deutschrap
-
+166%
Dubstep
-
+150%
Brazilian Pagode
-
+146%
Breakbeat
-
+121%
Brazilian Sertanejo
-
+97%
Regional Mexican
-
+69%
J-Pop (Japanese pop)
-
+61%
Ska
Matt Forster
VP, Strategy and Insights
“Place is driving music culture today”
“Many regionally specific, destination-associated genres are not only significantly larger than they were five years ago, but several continue to gain momentum between 2025 and 2026.
This suggests that the musical identities associated with these destinations continue to resonate with global audiences, reflecting sustained interest rather than one-off spikes in listening.
As our listening habits have diversified over time through streaming, music continues to serve as an avenue to experience, connect with, and explore other cultures.”
- Flight searches only counted where outbound/check-in date falls within 3 days before / 1 day after the festival date and compared to seasonal flight search average. ↩︎
- Flight searches only counted where outbound/check-in date falls within 3 days before / 1 day after the concert date. Data covers concerts and festivals tracked on Touring Data as of May 2026 compared to seasonal flight search average. ↩︎
- Based on flight searches on Skyscanner to Puerto Rico following the Super Bowl halftime show on 8 February 2026. ↩︎
- Universal Music Group internal data 2021 – 2026. ↩︎
- TikTok search data comparing April 2025 with April 2026. ↩︎
- TikTok search data comparing April 2025 with April 2026. ↩︎