The global experiences sector by 2029, growing 8% annually and outpacing wider travel by more than 60%.
Travelers now prioritize bucket-list experiences, cutting back on luxury goods to fund them.
Year-over-year surge in multigenerational bookings, the fastest-growing segment in travel.
In short: Travelers now choose destinations for what they will do, feel, and learn, not for the hotel itself. Nayara's six properties across Costa Rica, Chile, and Panama are built around encounters: food, family adventure, nature, and purpose.
Travelers no longer choose destinations for their hotels. They choose them for what happens once they arrive.
The global experiences sector reached $271 billion in 2025 and is projected to pass $342 billion by 2029, growing about 8% a year. That outpaces the wider travel industry by more than 60%. According to the Mastercard Economics Institute, 70% of travelers now prioritize bucket-list experiences over luxury goods. The shift is structural, not cyclical.
This is part 2 of our experiential travel series. For part 1: READ: TOP 10 TRAVEL TRENDS ↗
Culinary tourism is projected to grow from $16.1 billion in 2025 to $76.4 billion by 2033, nearly 22% a year. One in five travelers now books trips specifically to explore food, and half secure dining reservations before any other activity.
At Nayara, food is a vocabulary and the kitchens become classrooms. At Ayla in Tented Camp, open-fire cooking teaches elemental technique. At Asia Luna in Gardens, chefs work Costa Rican ingredients into Asian-Latin fusion. The chocolate experience runs from pod to bar. At Ckelar in Alto Atacama, ancestral Atacameño methods use ingredients from the driest desert on Earth. These are not demonstrations. They are skills guests carry home.
Open-fire cooking at Ayla, where the kitchen becomes a classroom.
Family travel surged 67% year over year in 2026, outpacing luxury and adventure travel combined. Nearly half of all travelers now choose multigenerational trips. The challenge is constant: how do you satisfy a four-year-old, a fourteen-year-old, and a seventy-four-year-old at once?
Nayara's answer spans three countries. In Costa Rica, the rainforest becomes a classroom. In Chile's Atacama, Rainbow Valley writes millions of years of Earth's history in color. On Rapa Nui the Moai stand as the world's greatest open-air museum. Every property accommodates every generation at once: teens zip-line, grandparents soak in thermal pools, the adventure becomes the bond. READ: FAMILY TRAVEL AT NAYARA ↗
Nature exposure improves attention, reduces stress, lifts mood, and lowers psychiatric risk. The American Psychological Association and UCLA Health document distinct benefits across immunity, cognition, cardiovascular health, sleep, and emotional regulation.
Every Nayara property is embedded in its ecosystem, not imposed on it. Alto Atacama sits within 55,000 acres of protected desert under the clearest skies on Earth. Gardens and Tented Camp border Arenal Volcano National Park, home to 500-plus bird species and half the world's butterfly species. Bocas del Toro floats above Caribbean coral reefs. Hangaroa sits on the most remote inhabited island on Earth. These are not resorts with nature views. They are nature with rooms.
Travelers increasingly want their presence to contribute rather than extract. At Nayara, sustainability is not a program bolted on. It is the architecture.
Alto Atacama's stewardship work protects fragile Atacameño ecosystems. The Costa Rica properties hold Green Globe certification, supporting reforestation, wildlife corridors, and local employment. At Hangaroa on Easter Island, Rapa Nui cultural preservation is woven into every guest interaction. At Bocas del Toro, marine conservation and coral restoration define the property's relationship with the sea. When you stay at Nayara, the land is better for your having been there.
Travelers in 2026 prioritize transformation over relaxation. They choose family adventure over luxury goods. They expect travel to create a positive impact, and they pick destinations for what they will do, feel, and learn, not for thread count.
Nayara was built for this moment, not because we followed a trend, but because we began here, in the volcano's shadow, in the desert's silence, in the rainforest's embrace, and built outward from experience itself. Six properties. Three countries. One philosophy.
The world is not something you look at.
It is something you move through, taste, touch, and carry home changed.
Five perspectives on what it means to travel for the experience itself.
0110 Travel Trends Defining 2026→Six properties across Costa Rica, Panama, and Chile, each built around the experience itself.