An interpretation of the Amadeus Travel Dreams 2026 report through the lens of maritime stakeholders in Latin America and the Caribbean.
Published at the end of 2025, the Amadeus Travel Dreams 2026 report, based on a survey conducted by Opinium Research among 6,000 travelers and 500 hoteliers, provides a global snapshot of evolving travel expectations that holds several lessons for maritime stakeholders across Latin America and the Caribbean. While the study focuses primarily on hospitality, its conclusions resonate strongly with the dynamics shaping regional maritime transport, cruise operations, port activities, and related services.
The first major finding concerns the changing experiences travelers seek. According to the study, when asked what they expect from a destination, 29% of travelers cite freedom—“give me space, beautiful views, and an open itinerary”—as their top response. Connection to a place (24%) and the discovery of new environments (22%) complete the picture. These structural expectations align directly with what maritime travel, particularly regional cruising and Caribbean inter-island services, is uniquely positioned to offer. The traveler of 2026 is seeking less a succession of tourist stops than the feeling of an open journey, meaningful movement, and a sequence of discoveries connected to living destinations.
This demand for freedom in motion is reinforced by other findings in the report. When asked what makes them feel they have reached their dream destination, 32% of travelers mention “the moment I stop looking at my phone because real life is more interesting.” This insight has particular relevance for maritime stakeholders. The experience of the sea, slower travel between coastlines, and calls at heritage ports offers precisely this quality of presence. For regional operators, the convergence between global demand trends and the intrinsic value proposition of maritime travel represents a strategic asset that deserves greater emphasis.
The second key finding for the maritime sector concerns sustainability. The study reveals that 75% of travelers consider an operator’s environmental commitments important in their booking decisions and are willing to pay an average of 11.7% more per night for providers with credible sustainability practices. Among Generation Z travelers, that willingness reaches 14.7%. This sensitivity varies significantly across source markets, ranging from 93% in India and 85% in China to 65% in both the United Kingdom and Germany.
For maritime stakeholders in the LAC region, this finding is structurally significant in two ways. First, because maritime activities are inherently exposed to environmental issues, whether through the protection of coastal ecosystems, vessel emissions management, or port water quality. Second, because the emerging markets that display the greatest sensitivity to sustainability—led by India and China—are precisely those that several regional tourism authorities are actively seeking to develop. The alignment between a destination’s environmental narrative and that of its maritime sector is becoming a critical component of overall credibility.
The third finding concerns the economic value of local experiences. According to the study, 44% of the 500 hoteliers surveyed identify “concierge services and guided experiences” as one of their two primary drivers of non-room revenue growth, alongside social events. The report further indicates that “local experience kits”—including neighborhood guides and artisanal souvenirs—could generate more than US$243,000 in additional annual revenue for a mid-scale hotel, based on an indicative price of US$20. Meanwhile, 30% of business travelers extending their trips for leisure purposes say they would be willing to pay more than 15% above the average rate for this type of offering.
This finding invites several interpretations for the maritime sector. Regional cruising, by its very nature as a multi-port experience, is structurally suited to delivering authentic local experiences at every port of call. Maritime operators capable of integrating their services with carefully curated, well-structured, and economically beneficial local experiences for destination communities will capture a share of the value that hoteliers are beginning to monetize more seriously. Achieving this alignment will require new forms of partnership with port authorities, local cultural operators, and destination management organizations.
A fourth finding deserves attention. The study reveals that 83% of hotels expect growth in revenues generated by client events—including weddings, corporate seminars, and private celebrations—over the next two years. Among them, 45% anticipate growth ranging between 6% and 15%, while 11% project increases exceeding 15%. For maritime stakeholders offering event-related services—including vessel privatization, event cruises, and corporate group hosting on private islands—this trend signals a promising market opportunity. Daniel Earle, Vice President of Commercial Strategy at Grand Beach Hotel Miami Beach, notes in the report his ambition to increase group bookings to 25% of total sales and highlights the importance of technological interfaces between event booking systems and hotel management platforms. This logic of technologically structured group bookings is equally relevant to maritime operators offering integrated event services.
Finally, as in the aviation sector, the transformation of decision-making channels documented by the report—38% of hoteliers placing SEO and GEO at the center of their demand-generation strategies and 69% of travelers trusting AI-generated summaries—has direct implications for regional maritime stakeholders. The institutional visibility of port authorities, cruise operators, and maritime service providers within leading specialized publications is becoming a long-term positioning issue.
For maritime stakeholders across Latin America and the Caribbean, the Amadeus study confirms a reality the sector already perceives. The value of maritime transport is no longer measured solely in terms of traffic flows or capacity, but increasingly in the quality of the overall experience it helps shape, its ability to integrate seamlessly into the broader travel chain, and the consistency of its environmental and cultural narrative with the expectations of emerging source markets.
Source of statistical data: Amadeus, Travel Dreams 2026: From data to delight, published in late 2025. The quotation from Daniel Earle, Vice President of Commercial Strategy at Grand Beach Hotel Miami Beach, is drawn directly from the report.
