With politics affecting the state of US tourism, the travel industry’s ad strategy may contain a glaring mismatch: billions flow to platforms whose audiences look nothing like actual travelers, while radio, the medium delivering ideal customers, gets a fraction of the budget.
The travel industry invested $89 million in AM/FM radio advertising in 2025, while pouring $580 million into television, despite radio listeners aligning far more closely with actual travel customers in age, income, and spending behavior, according to new research from Cumulus Media and Westwood One.
Heavy AM/FM radio listeners demonstrate a median age of 45 and household income of $84,000. Adults planning to travel in the next 12 months show nearly identical profiles with a median age of 47 and a median household income of $104,000. Heavy TV watchers skew dramatically older at a median age of 60, with a substantially lower household income of $68,000. 51% of heavy radio listeners work full-time compared to just 29% of heavy TV viewers. Radio listeners also match travelers on household composition, with 55% living in households of three or more people compared to 43% for TV audiences.
Travel intent varies significantly across radio formats. Hispanic formatted stations lead at 79.4% of listeners planning to travel in the next 12 months. News/Talk follows at 78.7%, Alternative at 78.5%, and Soft Adult Contemporary at 77.7%. Country listeners show 73.6% travel intent, while Oldies attracts the lowest concentration at 71.7%.
Sports radio in particular delivers especially valuable customers for the travel industry, with listener affinity for premium brands dwarfing general population averages.
Disney Cruise Line provides the starkest example. Sports radio listeners are 88% more likely than average adults to book Disney cruises, suggesting the format reaches families with both disposable income and willingness to spend on experiences. Norwegian Cruise Line indexes 50% higher among sports audiences, while Celebrity and Royal Caribbean show 19% and 16% lifts, respectively.
Hotel chains see similarly dramatic results. Crowne Plaza guests are 74% more likely to listen to sports radio. Marriott Hotels & Resorts shows a 50% higher concentration, while Omni Hotels & Resorts indexes 45% above average.
Two recent campaigns demonstrate sports radio’s ability to move the needle on brand metrics that matter. A flagship hotel chain advertising during Westwood One Summer Olympic Updates saw familiarity nearly double from 35% to 63% among exposed listeners. Favorability jumped 15 points to 74% while consideration rose by the same margin. Ad recall hit 27% among exposed listeners versus just 15% for those who didn’t hear the spots.
A mid-range hotel chain running on Westwood One NCAA College Football broadcasts watched familiarity surge 50% among exposed listeners. Favorability climbed 32%, and consideration jumped 34%, delivering measurable business impact from audiences already predisposed to travel and spend.
Similarly, attribution research from Katz Analytics points to radio’s ability to drive trackable digital response. A 12-week Convention & Visitors Bureau campaign showed radio producing clear, incremental gains in website traffic across multiple markets.
The study, conducted by Katz and LeadsRx, examined a multi-market radio campaign designed to measure radio’s direct contribution to online engagement rather than simple correlation. Researchers matched radio spot schedules with website traffic data to isolate radio’s role in driving consumer action.
The campaign ran :30 radio spots across three feeder markets. By aligning airtimes with web analytics, Katz Analytics quantified the lift radio delivered during active flight windows, offering a market-level view of how audio advertising translates into digital behavior.
According to the findings, radio exposure generated a 15.6 percent lift in website traffic attributable directly to the campaign. Over the full flight, the CVB recorded 17,900 incremental website visits tied to radio advertising, averaging nearly five website visits per radio spot.
The data also showed that response levels rose and fell in line with scheduling patterns, reinforcing the role of placement and frequency in driving results. Traffic spikes aligned with specific campaign windows, suggesting listeners acted shortly after hearing the ads.
