New Booking.com data further illustrates women’s sports fans’ willingness to travel

The GIST: The WNBA Finals are set, meaning the locations and dates are also finally locked in. New data from the W’s official online travel partner Booking.com illustrates a largely untapped opportunity for the travel sector to cash in on women’s sports fandom. Let’s fly.

The new data: Per Booking.com, U.S. traveler searches to upcoming WNBA Finals sites Phoenix and Las Vegas are spiking when the W is expected to be in town. For Phoenix, searches are up 103% YoY for October 8th to 10th and 166% YoY for October 15th, while searches for Las Vegas are up 67% YoY for October 3rd to 5th and 127% YoY for October 17th.

The previous data: Booking.com’s numbers aren’t the only ones showing how sports girlies are driving growth in the travel sports sector. While women’s soccer fans in particular are more likely to be aware of and trust travel brands than other women’s sports fans, W fans are making the trip too.

• In May, they were traveling 12% farther to attend games compared to the same time last year. A McKinsey report in August estimated 70% of women’s sports fans plan to spend more to attend sporting events, and an April Expedia study found that younger generations are more likely to travel for women’s sporting events than other generations.

The examples: We’ve seen this trend play out across cities hosting major women’s sporting events. The UEFA Women’s Euro drove a 12% increase in visitors and a 27% spending boost through its first week, while post-tourney research found there was about a 1.6% increase in overnight stays in host cities attributable to the tournament.

• The PWHL Takeover Tour’s market-testing also had a positive effect, creating $11M in economic activity for Edmonton. This may be why women’s basketball is considering bigger stages: The 2028 Women’s March Madness tourney switched venues to accommodate about 13K more fans, which may translate into millions in economic impact for Indianapolis.

Zooming out: Like SponsorUnited CEO Bob Lynch told us in July, the hospitality and travel industry will likely start to capitalize further on women’s sports. Brands like Delta, Marriott, and Booking.com are leaning in, but considerable gaps remain — Airbnb may be an IOC and FIFA sponsor, but it and fellow hospitality disruptors have openings across women’s sports leagues. Don’t sleep on this.