Reexamining “travel” post-covid
Part 3: Understanding the place of “food” and “accommodation” in travel from consumer association structures

In this, part three of our series of articles on the theme “reexamining ‘travel’”, we will
explore the keywords “food” and “accommodation”, two particularly important elements of travel.
A previous survey found that travel has changed in various ways through the covid crisis,
with people placing more emphasis on “food” as an objective of travel than before the
pandemic, and young women spending more on “accommodation”. The survey then
explored a “Mind Discovery Map”, a map of consumer outlooks, with a focus on these
changes, with it apparent young people and seniors have different outlooks on “food” and “accommodation”.

1. Changes in how people travel driven by the covid crisis

Fig.1 is a comparison of the purposes of travel in the summer of 2018 pre-covid, and the
summer of 2023, after covid shifted to a category 5 infection. It is clear “To enjoy
food/drink” has increased compared to pre-covid times. We are sure many people grew
tired of their daily meals through the ongoing restrictions placed on going out and eating
out due to the covid crisis, and deem this a particularly strong driver behind their current
desire to “want to enjoy cuisine synonymous with their travel destination” due to being
able to travel for the first time in a long time now.

Fig.1

It is also apparent people are generally spending less on travel than pre-covid (Fig.2).
At the same time, women displayed different tendencies depending on their age groups.
Women in their 50s and over who had originally spent a lot of money on travel reduced the amount they use on it particularly sizably, while those in their 40s and under increased the amount they use.

Fig.2

Women in their 50s and over reduced their spending on transportation and other costs
(expenditure on food/things other than souvenirs locally), suggesting they are going on
more casual trips. It is apparent women in their 40s and under in particular are spending
more on accommodation, suggesting they are not compromising on accommodation
amidst the rise in accommodation costs (Fig.3).

Fig.3

It is thus apparent through the covid crisis, people are placing more importance on “food” as a purpose of travel than before the pandemic, and that young women are spending
money on “accommodation”. We next explored a map of consumer outlooks known as
“Mind Discovery Map” to clarify what “food” and “accommodation” mean  in a travel
context, and whether they mean different things to young people and seniors such as the “out-of-the-ordinary/escape from reality” from travel delineated in Part 2 of this series”.

2. The “Mind Discovery Map”, a map of consumer outlooks

A “Mind Discovery Map” is data comprised of free associations from several hundred people on a set theme and the relationships between these. INTAGE’s “De-Sign Research” solution examines these maps through workshops with a diverse range of members, to unearth
deep psychological insights that even consumers themselves are unaware of.
Akin to the results introduced in Part 2 of this series on the theme of the
“out-of-the-ordinary/escape from reality from travel”, We asked 500 young people
(men/women aged 18-39 with no children) and 500 seniors (men/women aged 50-69
without children of high school age or younger) “what travel means to them” to produce
this map. We used INTAGE’s analysis tool PAC-I to produce this map.

Fig.４

Mind Discovery Maps can basically be interpreted by noting that “closely positioned words have similar meanings” and “words that are positioned far from each other have distant
meanings”. They can actually be interpreted in several other ways in greater depth, and we used one of these – “gap position” in this article to analyze differences in meaning by
focusing on how both young people and seniors position “food” and “accommodation”
on their maps.

Fig.5

3. “Food” and “accommodation” from young people’s perspectives

We first examined what “accommodation” and “food” mean in the context of travel to
young people.

Fig.6

Among young people, words related to “food” and “accommodation” were clustered
closely, suggesting that “food” and “accommodation” are perceived as similar things.
They perceive the meals at their accommodation to be “culinary experiences in their
travel”, and rarely eat out, so appear to enjoy meals at their accommodation when they
travel. Young people thus consider having an out-of-the-ordinary stay and the enjoyment
of cuisine at their accommodation to be part and parcel of their travel experiences, and at present, where travel with a “food” focus post-covid is popular, they appear to be spending money on accommodation with an uncompromising focus on “accommodation” that will
deliver these factors. They also cluster “hotels” and “ryokan inns” closely, and appear to
consider the two as synonymous as types of accommodation facilities.

4. “Food” and “accommodation” from senior’s perspectives

We next also examined what “accommodation” and “food” mean in the context of travel to seniors.

Fig.7

Among seniors, “food” is located in the middle of the map, indicating “food” is central
to/symbolic of travel. Seniors find their daily meals symbols of their “ordinary lives”, so
conversely with travel, may have more of a sense of the out-of-the-ordinary from the act of partaking in local delicacies. “Food” experiences are thus a primary focus with senior trips, along with tourist experiences in addition to this.
Let’s next take a look at what “accommodation” means to them. While “hotels” and “ryokan inns” were clustered closely among young people, they were distant among seniors, among whom they appear to be perceived clearly differently. Seniors position “ryokan inns” as
places close to “soothing” and “stress relief”, and are deemed to be used as
“accommodation” for trips for their own enjoyment. Conversely, “hotels” are deemed to
be used as “accommodation” for trips to entertain people other than themselves with,
close to keywords like “family get-togethers”, “anniversaries”, “don’t want to spend money”, and being “bothersome”.

5. Summary

Our examination of Mind Discovery Maps has clarified the standard young people and
seniors use to choose trips with.
Young people choose “accommodation” that offers good “food”. They choose
accommodation facilities that suit the purpose of their trips, regardless of whether they
are “hotels” or “ryokan inns”.
Seniors see “food” as a cornerstone of travel. “Hotels” need elements their spouse,
children, or grandchildren etc. can enjoy, while with “ryokan inns”, elements they
themselves can enjoy are key.
Both “food” and “accommodation” are important elements in trips that enable travelers to have out-of-the-ordinary experiences, although they have different nuances among young people and seniors. Since the nuances in terms of “accommodation” differ greatly even
between the broad categories of young people and seniors, it may be important to further
clarify who targets are and to carefully examine the nature of claims with which to target
them.
This three-part series has examined “travel”. Based on the results of our analysis, we have
come up with several ideas with which to revitalize travel. Our external environments
surrounding travel have changed dramatically over the past few years, including the spread of covid, an historic depreciation of the yen, and inflation. INTAGE will continue to research changes and the state of “travel” from multiple perspectives going forward to support
people involved in the travel industry.
INTAGE can provide support in the realization of new business through combining optimal methodologies such as qualitative research to gain a deeper understanding of targets or
workshops for the formulation of concepts, akin to the self-sponsored survey introduced in this article. For more information, please feel free to enquire with a sales representative.

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The analysis for this article was conducted based on the results of an
INTAGE self-sponsored survey conducted according to the following design.
Research area: Nationwide, Japan
Respondent criteria: 18~39y.o. men/women with no children, or 50~69y.o. men/women
with no children in high school or under
Sample extraction method: Extracted from INTAGE monitor panelists and sent
questionnaire
Sample size: n=500 for each respondent criteria
Survey implementation period: (Mon) December 18 ~ (Fri) December 22, 2023

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