Next-gen travel marketing is about Gen Z, sports tourism, and the future of advertising

As technology evolves and younger generations assert their influence on the travel tech space, the world of travel marketing is changing along with the times. Or rather, it has to in order to reach new audiences, customers and travellers. With a 30-year career in travel and a seat on the executive board of the U.S. Travel Association, Rob Torres, SVP of Expedia Group Advertising, sat down with us in Dubai during WiT Phocuswright Middle East 2025 to offer a unique vantage point – overseeing both the macro challenges facing global tourism and the micro shifts in digital behavior.

From space travel to TikTok bookings

When asked about a destination marketing campaign that truly moved him, Torres didn’t name a glossy production or a high-profile brand. Instead, he cited something that made waves on the news and on social media recently: an all-female crew of five women who went to space on April 14, 2025, on Blue Origin’s New Shepard rocket. The crew included singer Katy Perry, broadcaster Gayle King, journalist Lauren Sanchez, rocket scientist Aisha Bowe, and civil rights activist Amanda Nguyen.

Online opinions of Katy Perry aside, the event itself was one giant step for space tourism, broadcasting the accessibility of space travel to a wider audience.

“I was never one to really think about going to space or really caring,” Torres admitted. “But I watched all that… getting them ready, and then the trip… and I was totally fascinated. Even if it was for 11 minutes, it just looked fascinating.”

Torres believes space tourism could soon evolve into a major campaign, describing how the experience went from science fiction to something tangibly real. “Seeing them doing it just made it real. Watching them land, get out. I was like, this is really pretty cool.” While the cosmos may still be a stretch for most travellers, back on Earth, new travel habits are already reshaping how people plan and experience their journeys, led in large part by Gen Z.

The Gen Z effect on the travel funnel

With two children in their early 20s, Torres has a front-row seat to how the next generation engages with travel. “They’ve grown up with the phone in hand, and they’ve grown up with social media, much different than any of us,” he said. “My daughter books almost everything including travel experiences with her friends on TikTok.”

Gen Z’s preference for video-based, shoppable inspiration is creating a new kind of marketing funnel – one that blends social media influence with instant action. “They’re so inspired now by what they see here. Influencers have a big piece of that. Who you follow, and what they’re doing, becomes really important,” Torres explained.

Even once a trip is underway, guidebooks are out, and TikTok is in. “Why would we look in advance? We’re going to look in real-time on TikTok. What’s the hottest restaurant in Paris right now? That is where we’re going for dinner,” he said. “It’s all about the latest.”

To meet this behavior head-on, Expedia launched Travel Shops, allowing influencers to monetise their recommendations directly on the Expedia platform. “They have all these great ideas, and they want to monetise them,” Torres said. “So we developed Travel Shops as a way for influencers to create their own retail position and they get a portion of the conversion.”

But the feature isn’t just for influencers. “It’s also open to destinations. Destinations will have their Travel Shop, suppliers, hoteliers can have their Travel Shop. It’s really your store within a store… like an Amazon shop within our ecosystem.”

Is sports tourism the next frontier

Another growing force in global tourism is sports. Expedia Group recently released a study showing that 70% of surveyed travellers plan to attend a sports event in the next year.

“That seems really high to me,” said Torres. “But it just tells me this is really changing the world.”

He explained that sports tourism goes beyond the city hosting the event. “A lot of people are spending six-plus days there. They may also experience a nearby city. So, it’s really an opportunity for all of us that work in different destinations to encourage and to market to that group of travellers.”

With events like the World Cup coming to the U.S., Torres says cities and destinations far from the host city can still benefit. “Only a handful of cities actually have a World Cup event, but the entire country can try to wrap around this.”

“Business trips – I can totally see myself just trusting that AI agent to do it for me. But a family vacation? That’s going to be tough. I think it’s a long way to go before we completely turn over that choice 100% to that agent,” says Rob Torres, SVP of Expedia Group Advertising (Left)

Rethinking marketing spend in a fragmented world

As marketing budgets expand – Expedia’s own sales and marketing spend is expected to hit $6.8 billion in 2024 – Torres emphasised smarter, not just bigger, investment.

“You have to spend those dollars where the customer is. They’re not all on Expedia sites. They’re all over. They could be on a connected TV program, video, social influence. Make sure that you’re spending your percentage based on where that customer is at the time that they’re being inspired or they’re booking or they’re researching.”

AI is also beginning to shift travel planning, but Torres sees it more as a support system than a full replacement for human decision-making.

“What AI is going to do is make personalisation better,” he said. “But because travel is such an experience, people are still going to want to see and feel a little bit more before they just book.”

He continued, “Business trips – I can totally see myself just totally trusting that AI agent to do it for me. But a family vacation? That’s going to be tough. I think it’s a long way to go before we completely turn over that choice 100% to that agent.”

Even Gen Z, for all their digital nativeness, aren’t fully surrendering to AI. “They use AI, but they’re still visually using video – TikTok, Instagram, Snap – to get more of that inspiration.”

So, what should destination marketers take away from this evolving landscape?

“Understand that how people are deciding where to go, when to go, is changing, and make sure you’re on top of those changes,” said Torres. “Travel always comes back. But how people travel, how they’re inspired, how they book – it’s all shifting. And we need to shift with it.”