Five audience categories to add to your summer travel advertising strategy

Updated: January 23, 2025 by Hayley.Schneider@experian.com 7 min read June 13, 2023

Based on the Q1 U.S. Travel Association Consumer Quarterly Tracker conducted by Ipsos, 52% of American adults are eagerly planning to embark on leisure travel within the next six months. With the pandemic limiting travel opportunities for so long, people are more willing than ever to prioritize travel and make up for lost time. With the summer vacation season upon us, it’s crucial to identify consumers who are eager to travel and implement a targeted travel advertising strategy. To help you stand out in the competitive marketplace, we’ll share five audiences you should consider when building out your summer travel advertising activation plan.

Five travel advertising audience categories

With so many travel audiences out there, it can be overwhelming to figure out which ones to target. That’s why we’ve compiled a list of the top five audience categories you should focus on:

  1. Seasonal spenders
  2. Frequent travelers
  3. Travel transportation methods
  4. Luxury travelers
  5. Vacation type

Let’s break down each category so you can better understand the travel behaviors and preferences of each group.

Seasonal spenders

Seasonal spenders

These travelers are known for their willingness to spend during peak travel seasons. They’re willing to spend more for travel experiences and have a high propensity to travel.

Let’s take a look at a few audience segments included in this category that you can activate as part of your summer travel advertising strategy.

  • Retail Shoppers: Purchase Based > Travel > Vacation/Leisure Travelers: Summer Trips: Consumers in this segment are frequent, high spenders of summer travel.
  • Mobile Location Models > Visits > Summer Break Travelers: Consumers in this segment are likely to travel during summer break.

Retail Shoppers: Purchase Based

With Experian’s Retail Shoppers: Purchase Based audiences, you can reach consumers who have a high propensity to buy in specific categories like toys, furniture, apparel, and more. This audience is created by combining known credit and debit transactions with advanced modeling to ensure the highest likelihood of future purchases.

You can use these audiences to find travelers interested in the outdoors that spend their money on related gear and activities, or travelers who use rental cars throughout their trip.

Mobile Location Models

Our Mobile Location Models are based on a statistical analysis of mobile location data from devices. The model is built from individual, household, and area-level Experian Marketing Data.

You can use these audiences to find travelers that like to visit theme parks, travel during the July 4th holiday, and travel during summer break.

Frequent travelers

Frequent travelers

Consumers in this audience category prioritize travel as a lifestyle choice and they’re always looking for their next adventure. They’re willing to spend money to make their travel dreams come true and often participate in loyalty programs to earn rewards.

Here are just a few examples of the audience segments you can activate to target frequent travelers as part of your travel advertising strategy:

  • Lifestyle and Interests (Affinity) > Travel > Frequent Flyer Program Member: Consumers in this segment are likely to be members of frequent flyer programs.
  • Retail Shoppers > Purchase Based > Travel > Hotels > Frequent Spend: Consumers in this segment frequently spend at hotels like Holiday Inn, Hyatt, Marriott, and Wyndham.

Lifestyle and Interests

Experian’s Lifestyle and Interests audience segments make it easy to identify and target consumers based on their lifestyle characteristics. These audiences cover a wide array of lifestyle categories, such as:

  • Activities/Interests
  • Purchasing Behavior
  • Contributors/Memberships
  • Lifestyle/General

You can use these audiences to find travelers that enjoy boating, like to visit zoos, and are fishing enthusiasts.

Travel transportation methods

Travel transportation methods

This audience category consists of the transportation methods travelers use to reach their destination or use throughout their travel experience.

Here are just a few examples of the audience segments you can activate to target travelers based on their preferred mode of transportation as part of your travel advertising strategy:

  • Autos, Cars, and Trucks > Vehicle Lifestyle Ownership > Recreational Vehicle (RV) Travelers: Consumers in this segment are likely to currently own an RV and use it for travel.
  • Lifestyle and Interests (Affinity) > Travelers > Air Travel (FLA / Fair Lending Friendly): Consumers in this segment are interested in traveling by plane based on their internet activity in the last 90 days.

Luxury travelers

Luxury travelers

These high-end travelers seek exclusive, high-end experiences, from top-tier dining to luxurious accommodations.

Here are just a few examples of the audience segments you can activate to target luxury travelers as part of your travel advertising strategy:

  • Consumer Financial Insights > Discretionary Spend – Travel > $10,000+: Consumers in this segment are likely to spend more than $10,000 for travel.
  • Retail Shoppers: Purchase Based > Travel > Hotels: Luxury: Consumers in this segment are frequent, high spenders at high-end hotels like Renaissance Hotels, Westin, and Hilton Hotels.

Vacation type

Vacation type

Unlike the previous categories, our vacation type category focuses on the type of trip a traveler is planning and the destination they’re heading to. Whether it’s a beach getaway or an adventure-filled trip, segments within this category can help you target consumers looking for those particular experiences.

Here are just a few examples of the audience segments you can activate to target travelers by vacation type as part of your travel advertising strategy:

  • Retail Shoppers: Purchase Based > Travel > National Park Travelers: Consumers in this segment are likely to travel to national parks.
  • Travel Intent > Activities > Winery Distillery Brewery Tours: Consumers in this segment are likely to visit wineries, distilleries, and breweries while traveling.

Family size and structure

In addition to our five recommended summer travel advertising audience categories, it’s important to add audiences related to family size and structure to your targeting strategy for the summer travel season.

Families with children, for example, are a significant market for summer travel, as parents are looking to create memories with their kids before they go back to school. Families with children have distinct needs and preferences when it comes to travel. For instance, they may need larger accommodation options, kid-friendly activities, and safe environments.

On the other hand, married couples with no children or single travelers may have different preferences for their travel experiences. These groups may be looking for more adventurous or adult-oriented experiences, such as camping, hiking in national parks, or winery tours. By segmenting your audience based on family size and structure, you can provide more relevant and personalized recommendations to your target audience, leading to higher engagement and conversion rates.

Here are just a few examples of the audience segments you can activate to target travelers based on their family size and structure as part of your travel advertising strategy:

  • Demographics > Marital Status > Single: Consumers in this segment are likely to be single.
  • Lifestyle and Interests (Affinity) > Moms, Parents, Families > Married Mothers: Consumers in this segment are likely to be married females with at least one child under the age of 18 years old.
  • Demographics > Presence of Children > Ages: 0-18: Consumers in this segment are likely to have children between the ages 0 to 18 years old in a household.
  • Demographics > Presence of Children > Ages: 7-9: Consumers in this segment are likely to have children between the ages 7 to 9 years old in a household.

We can help you reach summer travelers

From seasonal spenders to luxury travelers, there are a host of audiences you should keep in mind as you build out your summer travel advertising strategy. Experian audiences can help you tap into the potential of your summer campaigns by enabling you to identify, reach, and engage with a variety of travelers in their preferred channels.


Latest posts

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Praesent accumsan at mi non venenatis. Pellentesque sit amet turpis rhoncus, gravida nisi posuere, dignissim leo. Suspendisse sapien urna, semper in elementum id, venenatis a risus. Proin eget magna ex. Aenean eu elementum libero. Quisque auctor nisl ut elementum porta. Sed eu augue eu lectus volutpat pharetra. In vel massa faucibus, fermentum elit id, convallis massa. Proin enim nulla, vehicula sed leo ut, fringilla euismod ex. Morbi eget sapien congue, eleifend velit nec, dignissim leo. Duis sagittis vestibulum iaculis. Quisque et nibh ex. Sed vehicula accumsan nunc vitae blandit. Orci varius natoque penatibus et magnis dis parturient montes, nascetur ridiculus mus. Cras vel nunc nisi. Ut ac nisl eu magna tempor mollis. Duis convallis, magna nec dignissim sagittis, mi nisi aliquet odio, ut molestie leo sapien ac justo. Nullam laoreet justo sed massa tempus hendrerit. Sed eu risus leo. Proin auctor rutrum dui et sagittis. Mauris et orci id turpis posuere dignissim. Donec ornare arcu sem, quis tincidunt orci consectetur in. Donec tempor porta faucibus. Donec placerat ante id libero volutpat bibendum. Sed vulputate quam ut tempus auctor. Pellentesque ultrices felis vel lectus blandit, nec fringilla massa commodo. Vivamus rutrum dignissim urna, eu vehicula quam finibus non. In bibendum, magna vel blandit lobortis, ipsum risus ultrices sapien, tincidunt placerat dui metus a lectus. Donec sit amet libero odio. Maecenas in massa scelerisque, commodo justo sit amet, vehicula nibh. In hac habitasse platea dictumst. Nulla tristique sit amet sem eu venenatis. Proin tristique rutrum purus ut posuere. Integer commodo, sapien a rutrum auctor, turpis metus vehicula diam, id gravida orci magna ac nisi. Vivamus vel condimentum mauris, nec laoreet tellus. Morbi a massa erat. Sed turpis ipsum, tristique sed sagittis a, sagittis in lacus. Praesent ut laoreet lectus, sit amet ornare massa. Nullam imperdiet non ipsum ac luctus. Orci varius natoque penatibus et magnis dis parturient montes, nascetur ridiculus mus. Phasellus a mattis ex, a imperdiet turpis. Sed euismod ante quam, at vestibulum tortor dignissim nec. Praesent varius bibendum erat ac tincidunt. Class aptent taciti sociosqu ad litora torquent per conubia nostra, per inceptos himenaeos. Donec nec nunc et metus mattis dictum eget in turpis. Duis eget efficitur neque. Vestibulum porta dui id neque accumsan pellentesque. Mauris mollis risus arcu, ac semper velit eleifend quis. Media & Text Block Heading Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Sed sagittis feugiat dapibus. Fusce condimentum at neque et pulvinar. Nam malesuada lorem ut varius gravida. Etiam malesuada nisl ipsum, sed ornare justo posuere quis. Vestibulum ante ipsum primis in faucibus orci luctus et ultrices posuere cubilia curae; Vivamus sollicitudin tincidunt ipsum, a volutpat lectus. Fusce lacinia massa vel tellus iaculis fermentum. Mauris auctor elit vestibulum ultrices malesuada. Duis in augue ultricies, sodales nunc id, condimentum nibh. Quisque id ex ut purus viverra facilisis. List Item List Item List Item List Item List Item List Item List Item List Item List Item List Item List Item List Item Raspberry Raspberry Dark Blue Dark Blue Magenta Chevron Magenta Chevron Learn more Learn even more! Learn more Learn even more! Primary Secondary

October 8, 2026 by Andy.Monte@experian.com

Privacy-forward pharma media supports more informed healthcare journeys Effective pharma marketing depends on reaching patients, caregivers, and healthcare professionals (HCPs) with useful information in appropriate, privacy-forward ways. The goal is to make relevant education easier to find, support more informed conversations, and help brands understand how media contributes across the health journey. In this Ask the Expert session, Natalie Mancuso, SVP, Data Partnerships at DeepIntent, joins Sheila Wirick, who leads the health team at Experian, to discuss how to craft patient and HCP campaigns, privacy-safe activation workflows, connected TV (CTV), and measurement approaches built for pharma. Why should your media plan start with understanding the patient and provider The patient-and-provider journey should inform your media plan, as treatment decisions in pharma are increasingly informed, personal, and patient-driven. With more health information available than ever, patients are playing a more active role in understanding their options and participating in treatment conversations. As other industries become more customer-centric, pharma media planning needs to become more patient-centric. “We’ve got patients who are more informed, more involved in their treatment decisions than ever. The accessibility of data and information and the ways we can consume it with just AI alone is so vast that if we’re not arming people with the right information in real time, we’re missing the boat.”Natalie Mancuso, SVP, Data Partnerships This means media should be aligned to where a patient or provider is in the decision journey and what they need at that moment. Early on, media may play an educational role by building awareness of a condition, symptom, or treatment category. Later, it may help support more specific questions, treatment consideration, access, affordability, or adherence. The patient-provider conversation remains the key boundary. That exchange should stay private and clinically led. Media can play a valuable role before and after those moments by offering information that helps patients and providers feel more informed. How can brands connect patient and HCP messaging responsibly? It’s critical for agencies and brands to deliver relevant messaging to inform each stakeholder’s needs throughout the treatment journey, especially ahead of key clinical milestones. To execute this, brands must exercise privacy-forward activation, keeping patient and HCP identity, activation, and measurement paths separate, while using a common workflow layer to support the same brand goal. Experian helps pharma marketers do this by acting as an independent, privacy-forward identity, data, and workflow layer. We bring together high-fidelity matching, governed onboarding, and non-clinical consumer context, so patient and HCP engagement can be activated more accurately across channels and connected to reporting. The distinction is not only where each audience is reached. HCPs may be engaged in both professional and personal environments, but their needs are different from patients’. For example, an HCP may receive messaging about co-pay savings for eligible patients, while a patient may receive information about patient support programs. These are different messages for different audiences, but they ladder up to the same goal: informing both parties in a privacy-forward, relevant way. Hear from Natalie Mancuso in our 2026 State of advertising report In our 2026 State of advertising report, Natalie shares why identity serves as the connective infrastructure that links planning, activation, and measurement across connected TV (CTV), programmatic, commerce media, and walled garden environments. Download the report Watch Natalie’s Q&A What does privacy-forward activation look like in pharma? Pharma brands often start with fragmented patient and HCP signals. Privacy-forward activation turns those inputs into usable audiences by first confirming that the data can be used, then translating identity in controlled environments that protect personally identifiable information through tokenization or other methodologies. For DTC, that means building and matching audiences without relying on inferred health conditions from browsing behavior. For HCPs, it means connecting professional identity to verified sources in a way that supports activation and measurement. In a category shaped by HIPAA, state privacy laws, internal review, and consumer sensitivity, building privacy in from sourcing through activation is what makes responsible health media possible. How can CTV play a more useful role in pharma? CTV can play a more useful role in healthcare when it’s connected to a larger, privacy-forward plan and not treated as just an awareness channel. DeepIntent connects CTV and digital exposure data using identity signals, such as National Provider Identifiers (NPIs), hashed email addresses, IP addresses, device IDs, and household signals, where permitted and reviewed. That identity layer helps support sequencing and suppression across streaming, endemic, mobile, and digital settings. In practice, CTV can introduce targeted education or broad brand awareness, and later touchpoints can provide sequential information in the right channels. Instead of repeating the same message, brands can make pivots based on engagement and context. “For us, it starts with identity and not panels. When we’re resolving CTV and digital exposures to the same person, we’re leveraging signals so that every touchpoint across streaming, endemic, and mobile is recognized as the same individual, not model lookalikes.”Natalie Mancuso, SVP, Data Partnerships For pharma, campaign performance should not be measured by reach alone. A stronger approach looks at whether sequenced engagement contributes to meaningful downstream signals, including: Prescription activity Provider engagement Referral patterns Patient compliance Adherence signals, where measurement is permitted Why should messaging and reporting change in pharma? Pharma campaigns are journeys with changing information needs. Reporting should guide the campaign optimization. “If I’m launching into a market with a new class of drug, I’m asking what education needs to be put into the market – from both an HCP and a consumer standpoint – to build awareness?”Natalie Mancuso, SVP, Data Partnerships Clicks and website visits still have a place, but they can’t tell the full pharma story. DeepIntent processes data in real time, giving brands an up-to-date read on how media connects to campaign engagement. Campaign signals can help teams optimize audience logic, creative, channel mix, or sequencing during a live campaign. Heading Test for Media & Text Block Content Test for Media &Text Block Learn more Heading Test for Media & Text Block Content Test for Media &Text Block Learn more Heading Test for Media & Text Block Content Test for Media &Text Block Learn more Explore how privacy-safe pharma activation can make an impact Experian brings marketing data and identity expertise for health marketing and DeepIntent adds pharma-specific activation experience. Together, we help brands connect patient and HCP strategies responsibly, with privacy built in from the start. Watch the full video with our experts to hear Sheila Wirick and Natalie Mancuso discuss patient and HCP messaging, CTV, privacy-safe activation, and outcome measurement for pharma brands. About our experts Natalie Mancuso SVP, Data Partnerships, DeepIntent Natalie Mancuso is SVP, Data Partnerships at DeepIntent and a leader in health-focused AdTech and DSP strategy. With over 20 years of experience growing billion-dollar healthcare brands, she turns complex data into scalable, performance-driven solutions that keep marketers ahead of industry change. Sheila Wirick Director of Health Sales, Experian Sheila Wirick is the Director of Health Sales at Experian with more than 20 years of experience in data and analytics. As Director of Health Sales at Experian Marketing Services, she collaborates with healthcare, pharmaceutical, and nonprofit organizations to apply data and insights that enhance customer retention, brand awareness, and acquisition. She is committed to helping organizations use data to deliver measurable results and meaningful impact. FAQs What makes a pharma audience activation-ready? A pharma audience is activation-ready when patient or HCP inputs can be translated into usable audiences with the right accuracy, controls, interoperability, and destination readiness. For patient engagement, that may include privacy-safe cohort construction, caregiver logic, non-clinical enrichment and appropriate exclusion rules. For HCP engagement, it may include governed identity inputs such as NPI, specialty, practice location, professional address and other verified attributes where appropriate. How can pharma brands sequence messages across channels responsibly? Pharma brands can sequence messages responsibly by giving each channel a clear role and using audience logic to maintain continuity. CTV and out-of-home can support awareness, social can reinforce the message, search can capture active research and point-of-care or rep-triggered channels can support decision moments. The workflow should preserve separation between patient and HCP identity strategies. What should pharma marketers measure beyond clicks and site visits? Pharma marketers should measure whether media connects to outcomes such as audience quality, prescription activity, qualified HCP engagement, verified delivery, referral patterns, therapy starts or adherence signals where permitted. These outcomes often depend on partner-enabled workflows, clean rooms, and aggregated outputs rather than direct end-to-end tracking. How does Experian help pharma brands connect identity, activation and measurement? Experian acts as an independent privacy-first identity, data, and workflow layer for pharma marketers. We help brands bring together identity, high-fidelity matching, governed onboarding, non-clinical consumer context, and partner interoperability so patient and HCP engagement can be activated more accurately across channels and connected more cleanly to partner-enabled measurement. Latest posts

July 17, 2026 by Andy.Monte@experian.com

Heading This is my content Heading This is my content Title sdf sdf sdf sdf sdf sdf sdf

April 10, 2026 by Andy.Monte@experian.com

Subscribe to our newsletter

Enter your name and email for the latest updates

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

About Experian Marketing Services

At Experian Marketing Services, we use data and insights to help brands have more meaningful interactions with people. As leaders in the evolution of the advertising landscape, Experian Marketing Services can help you identify your customers and the right potential customers, uncover the most appropriate communication channels, develop messages that resonate, and measure the effectiveness of marketing activities and campaigns.

Visit our website

Subscribe to our newsletter

Stay up to date on the latest industry news and receive expert tips from our marketing experts.
Subscribe now!