Bucketlist travel Survey 2023
Introduction
We define ‘bucket list’ travel as visiting new destinations, experiencing new cultures, seeing the world’s greatest sights, or undertaking activities in the world you’ve always wanted to do.
As well as being enjoyable, scientific research has shown that this type of travel can have significant holistic physical, mental and spiritual benefits for us.
Closely aligned to this type of travel is the idea of a ‘bucket list’ or more specifically a ‘travel bucket list’ – where we list down those destinations, attractions or activities we want to tick off in our lifetime.
In late 2022, Bucket List Travels commissioned an independent survey of the British public to find out:
- How likely Brits were to take a bucket list holiday, and if they noticed any health benefits from it
- How many Brits actually had a physical or online travel bucket list in some form; and if not, why not?
- What destinations and experiences were on Brits’ travel bucket lists
1. At what stage of life do you aim to, are you doing, or have you done ‘bucket list’ travel? Select all that apply:
- 1/3 of Brits stated that they do bucket list travel whenever get chance – those this is much higher in 18-24 segment 60% and for Londoners (53%).
- This propensity for bucket list type travel decreases with age, though we suspect this would vary according to income levels which were not tested in this survey. However, it is also likely to be due to:
- Having done a lot of bucket list travel already
- Health reasons
- Propensity to go back to where they know/like as easy/low risk.
- Almost a quarter (22%) of married couples are waiting until retirement to do more bucket list travel.
Whenever I get a chance
36%
I have already done some bucket list travel
21%
After the kids grow up/retired
16%
With the kids/as a family
13%
With a partner, before we have kids
11%
I do not do bucket list travel or do not think about it
27%
2. What % of your current holidays have a bucket list element to them? Select one:
- 80% of Brits do bucket list travel once a year; again, this is heavily skewed to younger people.
- Almost half of young people do bucket list travel 80% or more of the time; this declines to 13% in the over 45s.
- Londoners have higher number of bucket list holidays than national average. 90% of their holidays have a bucket list element compared to a national average of 80%. 62% of Londoners try to have a bucket list element 3 out of every 5 holidays.
100%: All
13%
80%: 4 out of 5
11%
60%: 3 out of 5
18%
40%: 2 out of 5
15%
20%: Regularly
22%
0%: None
21%
3. What is stopping you from doing more bucket list travel? Select all that apply:
- 60% of Brits say not enough money is their biggest barrier; interestingly, that was significantly higher in women (66%), compared to only half of men.
- Money is the lowest barrier in London 50%, and the highest in Wales 70%.
- It’s also the highest barrier in the 35-55 age group (70%) – presumably due to kids and mortgages.
- Time to research/risk going somewhere new is another big factor; interestingly, this is more of a factor in men (26%) than women (14%).
Money - cannot afford to go more
60%
Lack of holiday time to go more
21%
No time to research / too risky to try new places
19%
Caring for family/young kids
19%
Poor health
10%
No-one to go with
9%
Old age / other
8%
Nothing
13%
4. Which of the following benefits have you noticed from doing bucket list travel? Select all that apply:
- Over 1/3 Brits noticed holistic mental health improvements from travel.
- Over a third noted feelings of satisfaction/achievement; much more so in women than men (42% v 30%).
- 1/3 of Brits noticed refreshed perspective - again much more in women than men.
- A quarter of Brits said made more appreciative of what they have and their homes.
Increased knowledge of the world
47%
Feeling of achivement/satisfaction having gone somewhere or done something new
38%
Refreshes my perspective on my life
36%
Allows me to see the positive again, not just focus on the negatives
32%
Reduced stress
31%
Builds a special bond/closer relationship with friends & families I travelled with
26%
More calm, rebalance emotionally
25%
Makes me appreciate home and what I have (i.e. espacially when seeing poorer people in other countries)
24%
More tolerance/understanding of other people and cultuers
23%
Increased creativity
18%
Better sleep
15%
I have not noticed any benefits
13%
5. Do you have a travel bucket list? Select one:
- 90% of young people aged 18-24 have at least some ideas on their travel bucket list.
- Written down travel bucket lists are much more prevalent in young people (36%) compared to the national average of 14%; over 45s had significantly less (5%).
- 2/3 of Londoners have a travel bucket list either written down or in their heads versus the national average 52%; only 43% have in Wales, the lowest of all regions.
- London (23%) has almost twice as many people with actual written down travel bucket lists than the national average (14%).
- Wales, Yorkshire and East Anglia have the lowest % with written down travel bucket lists (10% versus national average 14%).
Yes - written down
14%
Yes - but only in my head
38%
Sort of - a few general ideas
23%
No
25%
6. Why don’t you have a travel bucket list? Select one:
- 29% said it’s not that important to them, though that’s lowest in London (20%).
- 1/4 of Brits have not thought of having a bucket list
- 15% bemoaned a lack of a tool to create one; that figure is much higher in London at 22%.
Not that important to me have one
29%
Never thought of it
25%
Cannot be bothered/not my style to do that
18%
No easy/obvious way to do it
15%
Too hard/time consuming to research things to put on it
10%
Do not want to do any 'bucket list' travel anymore in my lifetime
8%
7. How many destinations are on your travel bucket list now? Select one:
- 42% of travel bucket lists owners have more than 6 destinations on it. In London its much higher at 51%, as do those in a relationship (53%).
- Over 55s have mostly 1-5 (68%), above national average of 56%.
0
2%
1-5
56%
6-10
29%
11-15
8%
16-20
4%
over 20
1%
8. What experiences would you most like to do?
- Seeing the Northern Lights is by far the most popular bucket list travel experience, featuring on over a quarter of Brits bucket lists.
- Interestingly, it was significantly more so for women (35%) than for men (19%).
| Experience | % |
|---|---|
| Northern Lights | 27 |
| American Road Trip | 17 |
| Safari in Africa | 16 |
| Great Barrier Reef | 14 |
| Cruise Norway's Fjords | 13 |
| Niagara Falls | 13 |
| Eiffel Tower | 11 |
| Pyramids of Giza / Nile | 11 |
| Great Wall of China | 10 |
| Whale watching | 10 |
| Machu Picchu | 9 |
| Alaskan Cruise | 9 |
| Grand Canyon | 9 |
| Swim with dolphins | 8 |
| Ride the Bullet Train | 7 |
| Statue of Liberty | 6 |
| Taj Mahal | 6 |
| Experience | % |
|---|---|
| Galapagos islands | 6 |
| Petra | 5 |
| The Colosseum | 5 |
| Amazon Rainforest | 5 |
| Climb Mount Kilimanjaro | 4 |
| Swim in Dead Sea | 3 |
| Easter Island | 3 |
| Christ the Redeemer | 3 |
| Angkor Wat | 3 |
| Chichen Itza | 2 |
| Forbidden City | 2 |
| Terracotta Warriors | 2 |
| The Acropolis | 2 |
| Trek Everest Base Camp | 2 |
| Walk the Camino | 2 |
| The Alhambra | 1 |
| Terracotta Warriors | 1 |
9. Which destination(s) would you most like to visit?
- Australia (18%) is the most popular bucket list destinations for Brits, on almost 1 in 5 of Brits travel bucket lists.
| Experience | % |
|---|---|
| Australia | 18 |
| USA (es Hawaii | 16 |
| Japan | 12 |
| New Zealand | 12 |
| Canada | 11 |
| Italy | 11 |
| Iceland | 9 |
| France | 8 |
| Spain | 7 |
| Maldives | 6 |
| Experience | % |
|---|---|
| Dubai | 6 |
| Hawaii | 5 |
| Thailand | 4 |
| America | 4 |
| Greece | 4 |
| Egypt | 4 |
| Mexico | 4 |
| Norway | 3 |
| India | 3 |
| Turkey | 3 |
Survey set-up
- The research was independently conducted by Vital Research, on behalf of The Relations Group.
- The research adheres to the UK Market Research Society (MRS) code of conduct (2019) and ICC/ESOMAR (international).
- The sample of 2,005 online respondents was created to provide a random cross-section of the British population. The sample had the following criteria:
- across all regions of the UK
- aged 18+
- all genders
- all relationship statuses
- all income levels
- The results are statistically significant to a 95% confidence interval and 5% margin of error.
Summary of findings
The following key trends and themes were noted from the survey:
- Bucket list travel is most popular in the younger demographics; over 50% say they’ll do it whenever they can, and over 1/3 have a travel bucket list written down.
- Propensity for bucket list travel declines with age, though this would likely vary by income level which was not tested in this survey.
- Londoners have a significantly higher propensity for bucket list travel (>90%) than nationally – and the greatest number of travel bucket lists.
- Surprisingly few (14%) people have a written down travel bucket list.
- A significant number of Brits (40%+) have noticed the health benefits, especially mental benefits, of bucket list travel.
- Money is the biggest obstacle to Brits doing more bucket list travel, but also the lack of holiday time, and the time/effort needed for research/risk of going new places are major factors.
- Seeing the Northern Lights was number 1 desired bucket list experience overall and in every segment (on 27% of travel bucket lists).