The latest survey from smarTours reveals that most travellers want to see the Northern Lights at least once. 47% of travellers listed the Northern Lights as their ultimate bucket list travel experience.

smarTours surveyed more than 1,100 travellers on their top international bucket list experiences. Outdoor wonders consistently topped the list of bucket list travel experiences with 29% of travellers saying seeing Egyptian pyramids is their ultimate bucket list experience, followed by the Galapagos Islands (28%) and African safari (26%). Ranking at the bottom of the survey were art immersive experiences. The Mona Lisa (10%) and the Terracotta Army (9%) were at the bottom of the top 15 bucket list experiences.

The most interesting aspect of travelling for survey respondents is learning about a destination’s history. 19% of surveyed travellers said hearing stories about a destination’s background and culture is most important to them when travelling. Survey results indicated that respondents see travelling as an educational opportunity rather than an opportunity to flop and drop on a beach.

Additional smarTours survey findings included:

• 7% of travellers surveyed said meeting leprechauns is their top bucket list experience (it was not disclosed to survey participants that they aren’t real!!).
• 14% of travellers said visiting a destination before it becomes trendy was the important reason for their travel choices.
• Despite American’s obsession with sports, only 3% of surveyed travellers said attending a once-in-a-lifetime sporting event was their top reason for travelling.
• No one wants to get off the phone! Only 4% of surveyed travellers said getting off the radar and away from technology was their top reason for travelling.

“At smarTours, we’ve seen an increase in interest among our travellers in bucket list destinations that are natural wonders and outdoor activities. It’s no surprise to our team that the Northern Lights were traveller’s number one bucket list experience,” said Kendra Guild, smarTours director of product & operations. “As a result, we’ve been researching how to further incorporate the Northern Lights into our tours and we will have some exciting new developments to our 2020 offerings that we will be announcing soon.”