Scoring Big: 4 Insights for Destinations and Travel Brands to Maximize the World Cup Travel Opportunity

Marketing Intelligence

Many conversations about the FIFA World Cup 2026 focus on stadiums, tickets, and host cities. But at Azira, we’re seeing something different—insights with far bigger implications for long-term visitation. Early patterns from the 2025 FIFA Club World Cup already preview how fans will move, explore, and extend their trips next year. The real opportunity for Destinations and Travel brands isn’t the 90 minutes inside the stadium, it’s the days fans spend exploring before, between, and after matches, where halo cities and even destinations a flight away can attract high-value travelers.

During a recent webinar with our partner, Simpleview (A Grancius company) I shared how Azira’s global insights are revealing the fan behaviors destinations should be planning for now. Here are the key takeaways from our webinar, and how Destination and Travel brand marketers can put them into action:

1. Fans aren’t just attending games, they’re traveling with intention

Azira’s analysis of the 2025 Club World Cup revealed three major patterns: international visitors stayed 7+ days, many fans attended only a single match, and gaps between games encouraged fans to venture into surrounding regions.

This creates a unique opportunity for destinations and travel brands: fans aren’t structuring their trip around just the match they’re attending—they’re actively looking for additional destinations, experiences, guidance and itineraries that help them venture. Destinations that inspire and show up during this extended travel window can capture visitation, overnight stays, and repeat interest long after the tournament ends in partnership with Travel brands who facilitate these experiences.

2. You don’t have to be a host city to capture global demand

Azira’s 2025 Club World Cup data shows a consistent pattern across Los Angeles, New York/New Jersey, and Atlanta: fans traveled meaningful distances to attend matches, often crossing multiple states to reach each stadium.

Across all three venues, domestic attendees came from major regional hubs—Rose Bowl drew from the Western U.S. (California, Arizona, Texas), MetLife from the Northeast corridor (New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania), and Mercedes-Benz Stadium from the Southeast (Georgia, Florida, Alabama). At the MetLife Stadium final match, fans traveled an average of 139 miles domestically.

Internationally, the same core fan markets—Canada, Mexico, Argentina, South Korea, the U.K., Australia, and Germany—appeared at every host city, highlighting the broad global draw of the tournament.

These travel patterns show that demand isn’t confined to host cities. Any destination connected by major airports, regional drive routes, or short-hop flights stands to benefit as fans move across broader regions before and after matches.

3. Precise audience targeting and an omni-channel approach is key

With World Cup messaging crowding every channel, Destinations and Travel brands need an omni-channel media buying strategy paired with thoughtful personalization to encourage fans to explore surrounding attractions. Showing up early with bold creative matters, but so does meeting different fan types where they are—international visitors, regional travelers, families, and solo fans all travel differently. Keep your story aligned across platforms, then tailor what fans see based on their demographics, language and behaviors.

Combined, precise targeting and strategic media buying keep destinations and brands visible at every stage of the planning and travel window.

4. Real-world measurement and attribution is how you prove ROAS

With an event of this scale, destinations need attribution grounded in real-world traveler behavior. Travel brands seek to understand the extent of impact directly related to their marketing efforts. The real value lies in understanding who actually visited, where they came from, how long they stayed, their preferred brands to stay/travel/experience with and how travel dispersed across host and halo cities. When attribution is tied to verified visitation and economic impact, destinations gain a clear, accurate view of what worked, and how World Cup demand translated into measurable visits, stays, flights, rentals, ticket sales and more.

The World Cup may last only a month, but its impact won’t. Destinations and brands that use the spotlight to stay visible across channels, drive new and incremental visitors, personalize the experience, and measure real-world outcomes will capture momentum long after the final match.

World Cup fans are coming. What they discover beyond the stadium is up to you.