How Cultural Travel Interests Differ Across Countries
Travelers don’t simply choose cities. They choose a version of them. FREETOUR.com looked into how travelers actually book tours, moving beyond assumptions and survey-based hunches. We analyzed more than 337,000 tour selections made by over 264,000 travelers from 51 countries and territories during six months in 2026.
The data reveals several patterns. Travelers from Spain selected evening and nighttime experiences 38% more often than the FREETOUR.com average. US travelers show a stronger preference for architecture and design experiences compared to the global average. The French show an equally strong interest in both food and art. Italian tourists are most interested in the layers of history not captured on postcards.
These figures represent relative behavioral patterns within the observed FREETOUR.com dataset and shouldn’t be interpreted as universal characteristics of an entire nationality.
Some clear patterns showed up once we looked at what people actually booked, not just where they went.
Understanding country-specific preferences requires looking at global baseline trends first. While general sightseeing and heritage walking tours form the foundation of overall booking volume, more specialized options, ranging from architectural walks to food and tasting experiences, show clear differences by market.
Below is the platform-wide baseline across FREETOUR.com:
The numbers are not intended to be cumulative and, therefore, don't total 100%, as there can be some overlap within each type of tour. For example, a Gaudí-themed walking tour can fall into three categories: architecture, art, and iconic sights.
That overlap is actually why the country-level comparisons matter more than the raw totals. The size of a category tells you what is popular in general. It doesn't tell you where a particular market pulls away from everyone else. That is the comparison this article is built around: not which theme is biggest, but which one a given country's travelers pick noticeably more or less than the platform-wide average.
Travelers from Spain display a distinct preference for late-day exploration, selecting evening and nighttime experiences 38% more often than the FREETOUR.com average. While this category accounts for 2.52% of bookings platform-wide, its share reaches 3.48% among Spanish tourists.
This tendency extends into other specialized themes. Spanish travelers choose tours focused on religious and Jewish heritage 14% more often than average, while mystery, ghost, and legend itineraries index 10% higher. Within the dataset, evening cultural experiences encompass sunset walks, nighttime historical tours, and legend-themed routes through historic quarters.
The booking data highlights a clear, stronger-than-average relative preference for these specific formats. However, while the figures reveal a consistent behavioral pattern among Spanish users, the analysis purely tracks selection rates and does not establish the underlying reasons or personal motivations behind why travelers choose them.
Architecture stands out as one of the clearest travel interests for US travelers. They selected architecture and design experiences 20% more often than the FREETOUR.com average customer, which accounts for approximately 4.42% of tour choices among people from the USA, compared to 3.68% platform-wide. On top of that, castles and royal history tours run 15% higher than average, and food and local market tours come in 14% higher.
These range from Gothic architecture, Gaudí's wild designs in Barcelona, modernism, old Renaissance buildings, and grand royal palaces. All that means that US travelers like exploring cities through architecture — both visually and historically, looking beyond standard highlight tours.
That said, architecture isn't the single most-booked category overall for US travelers. History and iconic landmarks come first, just like they do for nearly every country on the platform. Americans showed a clear fondness for architecture, choosing these tours 20% more often than the FREETOUR.com average.
UK tourists selected ancient history and archaeology experiences 18% more often than the FREETOUR.com average, while food/market/tastings tours indexed 17% higher and tours relating to politics, war, and the 20th century were 16% more popular. Rather than focusing on nightlife or pub culture, booking patterns show a stronger preference for culinary experiences and deep historical exploration.
Here is what that looks like in real numbers. Ancient history tours made up 1.97% of UK bookings, compared to 1.66% overall. Food tours reached 4.19%, versus 3.58% for everyone else. And history tours about wars and politics hit 2.78%, compared to 2.41% across the board.
Conversely, stereotypical choices such as nightlife and pub tours indexed approximately 15% below the platform average among UK travelers. Evening tours indexed 22% below average, and ghost/mystery tours were down around 6%.
That doesn’t mean that British tourists don’t enjoy going out to a pub. Rather than indicating a total absence of interest in nightlife, these figures show that UK travelers over-index on historical and culinary exploration relative to the platform baseline, while nightlife bookings fall below average. It appears to be an area of strong curiosity that exists beyond the typical stereotypes associated with British tourism.
German travelers selected food and tasting experiences 25% more often than the FREETOUR.com average, making up 4.46% of all bookings made as compared to 3.58% overall. In addition, art and street art experiences indexed 14% higher among German travelers than the platform average. Lastly, customers purchasing tours focused on the local life and hidden-gem experiences indexed 11% above average.
Beyond these primary categories, German tourists show a consistent pattern of exploring authentic, off-the-beaten-path urban environments. Neighborhood walks and local market tours form a substantial core of their preferred choices, indicating that their interest extends past standard sightseeing highlights.
Food experiences were the clearest distinguishing category among German travelers, indexing 25% above the FREETOUR.com average. Art and local neighborhood experiences also showed positive relative differences. By incorporating market visits, street art, and neighborhood walks, these selections reflect a clear preference for engaging with local food and drink culture and a city's current cultural identity.
French travelers have an interest in food, street art and local creative culture. Music, art and graffiti tours were booked 43% more often than the FREETOUR.com average, and local food experiences weren't far behind at 41% more. Art-focused tours represented 2.40% of tour selections by French travelers, compared to 1.68% across the full platform dataset. Food experiences accounted for 5.04% of French travelers’ tour selections, versus 3.58% for everyone else.
Beyond food and art, French travelers also showed above-average interest in ancient history (+24%) as well as myths and legends (+22%). Their interests span across galleries, neighborhood walks, live music, tastings, visiting local markets, museum and art experiences.
Food experiences accounted for a larger share of French travelers' tour selections, but art, street art, and music showed a similarly strong relative preference compared with the platform average. Together, these findings reveal a broader pattern of cultural interests than food alone.
Italian travelers stand out significantly for their interest in contemporary and political history, booking these kinds of tours 66% more often than the average FREETOUR.com traveler. Political and 20th-century history tours made up 3.99% of their bookings, compared to 2.41% overall.
Local-life and hidden-gem experiences accounted for a 29% higher share of Italian tour selections than the platform average. These experiences represented 14.90% of their total selections, compared to the platform average of 11.57%. Ancient history and archaeology tours came in 28% higher, and tours about myths and legends were up 27%, reaching 5.92% compared to 4.67% for everyone else.
These tours include many different subjects such as World War II, living under communism, Jewish history, secret neighborhoods that most tourists will never visit, ancient ruins, and local legends passed down through generations. Together, these choices reveal a clear pattern: Italian travelers consistently look for travel experiences beyond the obvious tourist attractions in favor of deeper historical and cultural narrative.
Across Brazil, Mexico, Argentina, and Colombia combined, architecture-focused experiences indexed 59% above the FREETOUR.com average. In these four markets, architecture represented 5.86% of all tour selections, compared to 3.68% across the full platform dataset.
The breakdown by country is as follows:
Architecture accounted for 901 of the 15,378 tour selections across these four markets. Its share exceeded the FREETOUR.com average in every market, although the size of the difference varied considerably.
This recurring pattern is notable, but further analysis would be needed to determine how destination choices and tour availability contribute to it.
Booking habits really do change depending on where travelers are from. Sure, everyone likes the famous sights. But once you dig a little deeper, clear patterns show up by country. The table below breaks down what each group books more than everyone else, compared to the overall average.
Geographic proximity doesn’t guarantee similar travel preferences. Distinct behavioral patterns emerge across neighboring markets, showing that proximity alone doesn’t dictate cultural interest. Ultimately, booking data demonstrates that travelers from different countries prioritize different aspects of a destination.
While popular stereotypes often associate British tourists with pub crawls, the booking data shows that nightlife and pub experiences indexed 15% below average, and ghost tours were 6% below average. Instead, British travelers stand out for ancient history, food, and 20th-century political history, not pubs.
While foodie stereotypes about French travelers hold some truth, food experiences indexed 41% above the platform average, and art experiences indexed 43% higher. Rather than focusing solely on gastronomy, French travelers demonstrate an equally strong preference for artistic and creative culture.
Simply stating Americans go sightseeing doesn’t fit the data. The dataset shows that architecture and design tours indexed 20% above average among US travelers, alongside elevated interest in royal history and culinary experiences. This paints a much different picture than simply taking pictures at popular tourist sites.
Spain and Italy show different distinguishing interests within the FREETOUR.com dataset. Spanish travelers over-indexed on evening and night experiences, while Italian travelers showed stronger relative interest in political history, hidden local experiences, ancient heritage, and legends. These findings illustrate why broad regional labels don’t fully capture differences in observed travel behavior.
The core insight from this dataset is that travelers using cultural tour platforms select distinctly different aspects of a destination. Some travelers care mostly about how a city looks, its buildings past and present, while other travelers are concerned with the food, street art, or that specific ambiance a city takes on when the sun sets. A few may wish to walk through the remnants of an ancient ruin and historic site, while others prefer to have slower, more local ways to experience a city, by walking through local neighborhoods or searching out old urban legends.
Across FREETOUR.com bookings, travelers from different markets showed different patterns in the cultural experiences they selected.
Do travelers from different countries choose different types of travel experiences?
Yes, they really do. Spanish travelers go for evening tours, Americans like architecture, French travelers mix food and art, and Italians are fans of political history and hidden local stories. These are just patterns from real bookings of FREETOUR.com, not fixed traits about any one country.
Which travelers show the strongest interest in architecture?
Latin American markets showed a clear and consistent shift toward architecture. Across Brazil (+37%), Mexico (+61%), Argentina (+84%), and Colombia (+94%), travelers booked architecture tours significantly more often than average — indexing 59% higher combined. US travelers also showed above-average interest at +20%.
Which travelers are most interested in food experiences?
Among the primary markets analyzed, French travelers showed the highest relative signal for culinary experiences, booking food tours 41% more often than average. German travelers were also notably high at +25%, followed by the UK (+17%) and the US (+14%).
Do British travelers really prefer pub crawls and ghost tours?
Not really, based on the numbers. Pub and nightlife tours were actually about 15% below average, and ghost tours were down 6%. What stood out more was ancient history (+18%), food (+17%), and 20th-century history (+16%). Doesn't mean they skip pubs. Those tours just weren't unusually popular.
Which travelers are most interested in evening and night experiences?
Spain shows one of the clearest large-market signals in this category, with evening and night experiences selected 38% more often than the FREETOUR.com average. This mostly covers evening cultural walks, sunset routes, nighttime history tours and legend-driven experiences.
What type of cultural experiences stand out most among French travelers?
Two categories stand out almost equally: art, street art and music (+43%) and food, markets and tastings (+41%). Ancient history and archaeology add a supporting signal at +24%. Together, this points to a pattern broader than the common "food-first" stereotype about French travel.
What does "X% more often than average" mean in this study?
It compares the share of a particular experience among travelers from one country with that same experience's share across all analyzed FREETOUR.com tour selections. For example, US travelers selecting architecture experiences 20% more often than average doesn't mean 20% of US travelers booked architecture tours. It means architecture's share of US bookings was 20% higher than its share of bookings across the full dataset.
Does this data describe everyone from a particular country?
No. The findings describe observed booking behavior among FREETOUR.com travelers during the analyzed six-month period in 2026. They shouldn't be read as universal national characteristics or explanations for why a preference exists. The study identifies a pattern in real tour selections.
This analysis is based on aggregated, anonymized FREETOUR.com booking data collected over a six-month period in 2026. The dataset encompasses more than 337,000 tour selections made by over 264,000 travelers across 51 origin markets.
Experience themes were assigned based on the primary subjects and activities described in each tour listing, including categories such as architecture, food, local culture, art, history, and legend-themed routes. Because many itineraries blend multiple cultural elements, categories were not mutually exclusive, allowing a single tour to contribute to more than one thematic group.
To identify distinct behavioral signals, relative interest was measured by comparing a market’s selection rate within a given category against the platform-wide baseline. For example, an index of +20% indicates that travelers from a specific market chose that experience category 20% more frequently than the overall FREETOUR.com average.
Because metrics track total tour selections rather than unique individuals, travelers who booked multiple experiences contribute proportionally to the overall volume. Consequently, findings reflect observed platform booking patterns across origin markets during the study period rather than controlled, absolute consumer preferences.
Methodological Considerations & Limitations:
This study analyzes observed booking selections across the FREETOUR.com platform without controlling for destination supply, tour language availability, or destination mix. Because traveler preferences are closely tied to the specific cities they choose to visit, for instance, a high concentration of trips to heritage-heavy destinations can naturally increase architecture bookings, relative variations reflect broad, market-level behavioral signals within the dataset rather than isolated or controlled individual preferences.
The data reveals several patterns. Travelers from Spain selected evening and nighttime experiences 38% more often than the FREETOUR.com average. US travelers show a stronger preference for architecture and design experiences compared to the global average. The French show an equally strong interest in both food and art. Italian tourists are most interested in the layers of history not captured on postcards.
These figures represent relative behavioral patterns within the observed FREETOUR.com dataset and shouldn’t be interpreted as universal characteristics of an entire nationality.
Key Findings
Some clear patterns showed up once we looked at what people actually booked, not just where they went.
- Travelers from Spain were much more likely to book evening and nighttime tours — 38% above the platform average as a share of tour selections.
- US travelers booked architecture and design tours 20% more often than the FREETOUR.com average.
- British travelers favored ancient history, food, and political history, while pub and nightlife tours fell noticeably below standard rates.
- German travelers booked food and tasting tours 25% more often than average.
- French travelers stood out in two areas at once: art tours indexed 43% above the platform average, while food tours indexed 41% higher.
- Italian travelers showed a particularly strong preference for political and 20th-century history, booking these tours 66% more often than average.
- Across Brazil, Mexico, Argentina, and Colombia, architecture tours were booked 59% more than average — a pattern that showed up in all four countries.
What Travelers Usually Want to Experience
Understanding country-specific preferences requires looking at global baseline trends first. While general sightseeing and heritage walking tours form the foundation of overall booking volume, more specialized options, ranging from architectural walks to food and tasting experiences, show clear differences by market.
Below is the platform-wide baseline across FREETOUR.com:
| Experience theme | Share of analyzed tour selections |
| History & Heritage | 30.7% |
| Iconic Sights & Highlights | 16.6% |
| Local Life & Hidden Gems | 11.6% |
| Mystery, Ghosts & Legends | 4.7% |
| Castles, Palaces & Royal History | 3.9% |
| Architecture & Design | 3.7% |
| Food, Markets & Tastings | 3.6% |
| Religious & Jewish Heritage | 3.1% |
| Evening & Night Experiences | 2.5% |
| Politics, War & 20th-Century History | 2.4% |
| Art, Street Art & Music | 1.7% |
| Ancient History & Archaeology | 1.7% |
The numbers are not intended to be cumulative and, therefore, don't total 100%, as there can be some overlap within each type of tour. For example, a Gaudí-themed walking tour can fall into three categories: architecture, art, and iconic sights.
That overlap is actually why the country-level comparisons matter more than the raw totals. The size of a category tells you what is popular in general. It doesn't tell you where a particular market pulls away from everyone else. That is the comparison this article is built around: not which theme is biggest, but which one a given country's travelers pick noticeably more or less than the platform-wide average.
Spanish Travelers Are More Drawn to Cities After Dark
Travelers from Spain display a distinct preference for late-day exploration, selecting evening and nighttime experiences 38% more often than the FREETOUR.com average. While this category accounts for 2.52% of bookings platform-wide, its share reaches 3.48% among Spanish tourists.
This tendency extends into other specialized themes. Spanish travelers choose tours focused on religious and Jewish heritage 14% more often than average, while mystery, ghost, and legend itineraries index 10% higher. Within the dataset, evening cultural experiences encompass sunset walks, nighttime historical tours, and legend-themed routes through historic quarters.
The booking data highlights a clear, stronger-than-average relative preference for these specific formats. However, while the figures reveal a consistent behavioral pattern among Spanish users, the analysis purely tracks selection rates and does not establish the underlying reasons or personal motivations behind why travelers choose them.
American Travelers Show a Stronger Interest in Architecture
Architecture stands out as one of the clearest travel interests for US travelers. They selected architecture and design experiences 20% more often than the FREETOUR.com average customer, which accounts for approximately 4.42% of tour choices among people from the USA, compared to 3.68% platform-wide. On top of that, castles and royal history tours run 15% higher than average, and food and local market tours come in 14% higher.
These range from Gothic architecture, Gaudí's wild designs in Barcelona, modernism, old Renaissance buildings, and grand royal palaces. All that means that US travelers like exploring cities through architecture — both visually and historically, looking beyond standard highlight tours.
That said, architecture isn't the single most-booked category overall for US travelers. History and iconic landmarks come first, just like they do for nearly every country on the platform. Americans showed a clear fondness for architecture, choosing these tours 20% more often than the FREETOUR.com average.
British Travelers Choose Food and Serious History Over the Pub Stereotype
UK tourists selected ancient history and archaeology experiences 18% more often than the FREETOUR.com average, while food/market/tastings tours indexed 17% higher and tours relating to politics, war, and the 20th century were 16% more popular. Rather than focusing on nightlife or pub culture, booking patterns show a stronger preference for culinary experiences and deep historical exploration.
Here is what that looks like in real numbers. Ancient history tours made up 1.97% of UK bookings, compared to 1.66% overall. Food tours reached 4.19%, versus 3.58% for everyone else. And history tours about wars and politics hit 2.78%, compared to 2.41% across the board.
Conversely, stereotypical choices such as nightlife and pub tours indexed approximately 15% below the platform average among UK travelers. Evening tours indexed 22% below average, and ghost/mystery tours were down around 6%.
That doesn’t mean that British tourists don’t enjoy going out to a pub. Rather than indicating a total absence of interest in nightlife, these figures show that UK travelers over-index on historical and culinary exploration relative to the platform baseline, while nightlife bookings fall below average. It appears to be an area of strong curiosity that exists beyond the typical stereotypes associated with British tourism.
German Travelers Over-Index on Food and Local Experiences
German travelers selected food and tasting experiences 25% more often than the FREETOUR.com average, making up 4.46% of all bookings made as compared to 3.58% overall. In addition, art and street art experiences indexed 14% higher among German travelers than the platform average. Lastly, customers purchasing tours focused on the local life and hidden-gem experiences indexed 11% above average.
Beyond these primary categories, German tourists show a consistent pattern of exploring authentic, off-the-beaten-path urban environments. Neighborhood walks and local market tours form a substantial core of their preferred choices, indicating that their interest extends past standard sightseeing highlights.
Food experiences were the clearest distinguishing category among German travelers, indexing 25% above the FREETOUR.com average. Art and local neighborhood experiences also showed positive relative differences. By incorporating market visits, street art, and neighborhood walks, these selections reflect a clear preference for engaging with local food and drink culture and a city's current cultural identity.
For French Travelers, Food and Art Go Hand in Hand
French travelers have an interest in food, street art and local creative culture. Music, art and graffiti tours were booked 43% more often than the FREETOUR.com average, and local food experiences weren't far behind at 41% more. Art-focused tours represented 2.40% of tour selections by French travelers, compared to 1.68% across the full platform dataset. Food experiences accounted for 5.04% of French travelers’ tour selections, versus 3.58% for everyone else.
Beyond food and art, French travelers also showed above-average interest in ancient history (+24%) as well as myths and legends (+22%). Their interests span across galleries, neighborhood walks, live music, tastings, visiting local markets, museum and art experiences.
Food experiences accounted for a larger share of French travelers' tour selections, but art, street art, and music showed a similarly strong relative preference compared with the platform average. Together, these findings reveal a broader pattern of cultural interests than food alone.
Italian Travelers Look Beyond the Obvious
Italian travelers stand out significantly for their interest in contemporary and political history, booking these kinds of tours 66% more often than the average FREETOUR.com traveler. Political and 20th-century history tours made up 3.99% of their bookings, compared to 2.41% overall.
Local-life and hidden-gem experiences accounted for a 29% higher share of Italian tour selections than the platform average. These experiences represented 14.90% of their total selections, compared to the platform average of 11.57%. Ancient history and archaeology tours came in 28% higher, and tours about myths and legends were up 27%, reaching 5.92% compared to 4.67% for everyone else.
These tours include many different subjects such as World War II, living under communism, Jewish history, secret neighborhoods that most tourists will never visit, ancient ruins, and local legends passed down through generations. Together, these choices reveal a clear pattern: Italian travelers consistently look for travel experiences beyond the obvious tourist attractions in favor of deeper historical and cultural narrative.
Architecture Is a Shared Travel Interest Across Major Latin American Markets
Across Brazil, Mexico, Argentina, and Colombia combined, architecture-focused experiences indexed 59% above the FREETOUR.com average. In these four markets, architecture represented 5.86% of all tour selections, compared to 3.68% across the full platform dataset.
The breakdown by country is as follows:
| Country | Architecture vs. FREETOUR.com average |
| Brazil | +37% |
| Mexico | +61% |
| Argentina | +84% |
| Colombia | +94% |
Architecture accounted for 901 of the 15,378 tour selections across these four markets. Its share exceeded the FREETOUR.com average in every market, although the size of the difference varied considerably.
This recurring pattern is notable, but further analysis would be needed to determine how destination choices and tour availability contribute to it.
What Stands Out by Traveler Origin?
Booking habits really do change depending on where travelers are from. Sure, everyone likes the famous sights. But once you dig a little deeper, clear patterns show up by country. The table below breaks down what each group books more than everyone else, compared to the overall average.
| Traveler origin | Most distinctive interest | Difference vs. FREETOUR.com average | Other notable interests |
| Spain | Evening & night experiences | +38% | Mystery & legends; religious heritage |
| United States | Architecture & design | +20% | Royal history; food |
| United Kingdom | Ancient history & archaeology | +18% | Food; political/20th-century history |
| Germany | Food, markets & tastings | +25% | Art; local life & hidden gems |
| France | Art, street art & music | +43% | Food; ancient history |
| Italy | Politics, war & 20th-century history | +66% | Hidden gems; ancient history; mysteries |
| Brazil + Mexico + Argentina + Colombia | Architecture & design | +59% combined | — |
Geographic proximity doesn’t guarantee similar travel preferences. Distinct behavioral patterns emerge across neighboring markets, showing that proximity alone doesn’t dictate cultural interest. Ultimately, booking data demonstrates that travelers from different countries prioritize different aspects of a destination.
What the Data Says About Travel Stereotypes
British Travelers Are Not Primarily About Pubs and Ghosts
While popular stereotypes often associate British tourists with pub crawls, the booking data shows that nightlife and pub experiences indexed 15% below average, and ghost tours were 6% below average. Instead, British travelers stand out for ancient history, food, and 20th-century political history, not pubs.
French Travelers Are About More Than Food
While foodie stereotypes about French travelers hold some truth, food experiences indexed 41% above the platform average, and art experiences indexed 43% higher. Rather than focusing solely on gastronomy, French travelers demonstrate an equally strong preference for artistic and creative culture.
American Travelers Show a More Specific Architecture Signal
Simply stating Americans go sightseeing doesn’t fit the data. The dataset shows that architecture and design tours indexed 20% above average among US travelers, alongside elevated interest in royal history and culinary experiences. This paints a much different picture than simply taking pictures at popular tourist sites.
Spain and Italy Do Not Show the Same "Mediterranean" Pattern
Spain and Italy show different distinguishing interests within the FREETOUR.com dataset. Spanish travelers over-indexed on evening and night experiences, while Italian travelers showed stronger relative interest in political history, hidden local experiences, ancient heritage, and legends. These findings illustrate why broad regional labels don’t fully capture differences in observed travel behavior.
Travelers May Visit the Same Place — But Look for Different Versions of It
The core insight from this dataset is that travelers using cultural tour platforms select distinctly different aspects of a destination. Some travelers care mostly about how a city looks, its buildings past and present, while other travelers are concerned with the food, street art, or that specific ambiance a city takes on when the sun sets. A few may wish to walk through the remnants of an ancient ruin and historic site, while others prefer to have slower, more local ways to experience a city, by walking through local neighborhoods or searching out old urban legends.
Across FREETOUR.com bookings, travelers from different markets showed different patterns in the cultural experiences they selected.
Frequently Asked Questions
Do travelers from different countries choose different types of travel experiences?
Yes, they really do. Spanish travelers go for evening tours, Americans like architecture, French travelers mix food and art, and Italians are fans of political history and hidden local stories. These are just patterns from real bookings of FREETOUR.com, not fixed traits about any one country.
Which travelers show the strongest interest in architecture?
Latin American markets showed a clear and consistent shift toward architecture. Across Brazil (+37%), Mexico (+61%), Argentina (+84%), and Colombia (+94%), travelers booked architecture tours significantly more often than average — indexing 59% higher combined. US travelers also showed above-average interest at +20%.
Which travelers are most interested in food experiences?
Among the primary markets analyzed, French travelers showed the highest relative signal for culinary experiences, booking food tours 41% more often than average. German travelers were also notably high at +25%, followed by the UK (+17%) and the US (+14%).
Do British travelers really prefer pub crawls and ghost tours?
Not really, based on the numbers. Pub and nightlife tours were actually about 15% below average, and ghost tours were down 6%. What stood out more was ancient history (+18%), food (+17%), and 20th-century history (+16%). Doesn't mean they skip pubs. Those tours just weren't unusually popular.
Which travelers are most interested in evening and night experiences?
Spain shows one of the clearest large-market signals in this category, with evening and night experiences selected 38% more often than the FREETOUR.com average. This mostly covers evening cultural walks, sunset routes, nighttime history tours and legend-driven experiences.
What type of cultural experiences stand out most among French travelers?
Two categories stand out almost equally: art, street art and music (+43%) and food, markets and tastings (+41%). Ancient history and archaeology add a supporting signal at +24%. Together, this points to a pattern broader than the common "food-first" stereotype about French travel.
What does "X% more often than average" mean in this study?
It compares the share of a particular experience among travelers from one country with that same experience's share across all analyzed FREETOUR.com tour selections. For example, US travelers selecting architecture experiences 20% more often than average doesn't mean 20% of US travelers booked architecture tours. It means architecture's share of US bookings was 20% higher than its share of bookings across the full dataset.
Does this data describe everyone from a particular country?
No. The findings describe observed booking behavior among FREETOUR.com travelers during the analyzed six-month period in 2026. They shouldn't be read as universal national characteristics or explanations for why a preference exists. The study identifies a pattern in real tour selections.
Methodology
This analysis is based on aggregated, anonymized FREETOUR.com booking data collected over a six-month period in 2026. The dataset encompasses more than 337,000 tour selections made by over 264,000 travelers across 51 origin markets.
Experience themes were assigned based on the primary subjects and activities described in each tour listing, including categories such as architecture, food, local culture, art, history, and legend-themed routes. Because many itineraries blend multiple cultural elements, categories were not mutually exclusive, allowing a single tour to contribute to more than one thematic group.
To identify distinct behavioral signals, relative interest was measured by comparing a market’s selection rate within a given category against the platform-wide baseline. For example, an index of +20% indicates that travelers from a specific market chose that experience category 20% more frequently than the overall FREETOUR.com average.
Because metrics track total tour selections rather than unique individuals, travelers who booked multiple experiences contribute proportionally to the overall volume. Consequently, findings reflect observed platform booking patterns across origin markets during the study period rather than controlled, absolute consumer preferences.
Methodological Considerations & Limitations:
This study analyzes observed booking selections across the FREETOUR.com platform without controlling for destination supply, tour language availability, or destination mix. Because traveler preferences are closely tied to the specific cities they choose to visit, for instance, a high concentration of trips to heritage-heavy destinations can naturally increase architecture bookings, relative variations reflect broad, market-level behavioral signals within the dataset rather than isolated or controlled individual preferences.
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