Having been in the business for 40+ years, we’ve observed that music travel has significantly changed over the last 10 years. We’ve taken a deep dive into our last decade of tour data to share some interesting trends that may help you plan your next tour.
Most popular destination: Italy
Many of our tours visit Italy, with good reason. Rome is a magical city with world-renowned venues and incredible history. The Colosseum, the Roman Forum, the Trevi Fountain, the Sistine Chapel, and Saint Peter’s Basilica are always crowd favorites. Plus, it’s always possible to extend trips to cities like Florence or Venice to experience even more of the country’s rich cultural heritage.
Rounding out the top five are Austria, Ireland, the UK, and Spain. Each of these destinations will provide ensembles with extraordinary opportunities for sightseeing and performances on their tours.
Number of countries: 39
We’ve brought travelers to almost 40 destinations over 6 continents during the last decade.
If you’d like to visit a destination that isn’t on our list yet, be sure to let us know! We custom-build every itinerary for our ensembles, so it may be possible for you to join our very first tour to a new destination.
Best food: Italy, Central Europe, & Brazil
Our travelers to Italy unsurprisingly rave about their authentic Italian meals. However, if you’re a foodie, we’d recommend looking into Austria, Germany, and Brazil as tour destinations too. After surveying the directors of our 2024 season, we found that they rated the cuisines of these countries the best.
Best sightseeing: Greece, Brazil, Japan, & Argentina
Our travelers rated the attractions they visited in these four countries the highest. These destinations have gorgeous landscapes and spectacular monuments that attract visitors from all over the world. Bringing travelers to Parthenon in Athens, Rio’s Christ the Redeemer, the Shinto shrines and Buddhist temples of Japan, and Argentina’s Tigre Delta made for some of the most memorable moments of our latest tour season.
Best performances: France, Brazil, & Japan
Our travelers were happiest with the performance venues and audience sizes of these three destinations.
You might have started to notice a trend after the last couple of sections; despite not being the most common tour destinations, Brazil and Japan often provide ensembles with amazing tour experiences in multiple ways. If you’ve taken a look at the most popular tour destinations and haven’t found a great match for your ensemble yet, we’d recommend thinking about if one of these underrated destinations may be the perfect fit for your next adventure.
Top travel season: Summer
The majority of our tours take place over summer break due to the busy schedules of students. However, many school and university ensembles choose spring break or winter break tours, which can come with some advantages.
Touring during the off-season can often be more affordable for travelers and can help stave off the summer heat of certain destinations. If your ensemble is traveling during the winter, we’d recommend visiting Central Europe for the unique experience of visiting gorgeous Christmas markets in cities like Vienna, Salzberg, Prague, and Berlin.
Top destination languages: English, Spanish, & German
If you’re planning a tour but haven’t decided on your destination yet, this might help narrow down your Duolingo choices. Our Tour Managers always speak English, so you won’t have any issues navigating your chosen destination, but some travelers enjoy being able to order their meals in the local language.
Additionally, most of our tours feature immersion experiences where musicians meet local ensembles and perform a joint concert. Knowing a couple of local phrases before your tour can make these experiences even more powerful.
Concerts: Over 1,000!
We couldn’t be prouder to help bring more than 1,000 performances to life over the last 10 years. We remain committed to creating extraordinary concerts that inspire musicians and help build connections around the world.
Learn more about performance tours:
If you have any questions, our team of travel experts would love to connect with you. We’re always happy to help directors think through their music travel plans and share ideas.
