Set-jetting, or travelling to see a destination featured on screen, has been trending for some time, but it’s got some competition in the form of literary inspired travel, or bookations.
Skyscanner research found that 49% of travellers have booked, or would consider, a trip inspired by literature. This trend is expected to increase, too, as Skyscanner reported earlier this year that hotel bookings using its ‘library’ filter are up 70% year-on year globally.
Rebecca Sinclair, chief brand officer at Penguin Books UK, says it’s no surprise that reading is a source of wanderlust, pointing out that 85% of book buyers are reading to ‘relax or escape’. “Books open up the world to us, bringing us closer to new places, cultures, and perspectives,” she says. “Reading and travel are intrinsically linked. Books inspire real world journeys, which in turn create the space for people to lose themselves in books.”
. . . The Trend
The literary travel trend doesn’t just mean travelling to places featured in a book, though 32% of travellers do state a desire to visit a place they have read about in the future. For 18% it includes staying in book- themed accommodation, and for 12% it’s going on a reading or writing retreat. For many, though it’s just a chance to read, with 70% of travellers say reading time is important to them on a trip.
. . . Inspiration
For clients looking for inspiration, Penguin has a list of books it says will inspire travel, starting with Salman Rushdie’s Midnight’s Children, set in India, and Is a River Alive? by Robert Macfarlane, which explores Ecuador, India and Quebec. There’s Croatian culinary tale Mediterranea by Anastasia Miari, Death in the Arctic by Tom Hindle, and Carley Fortune’s lakeside tale One Golden Summer. There’s also Greecian tale Girl, Goddess, Queen by Bea Fitzgerald and Merlon Hanbury-Tenison’s Our Oaken Bones, set in England.
