With the spooky season around the corner, ghost tours and Halloween experiences are set to take centre stage. But according to Bókun, a Tripadvisor company, growing interest in dark tourism is helping fuel demand for ghostly experiences year-round.
To explore how rising global fascination with the supernatural is translating into year-round bookings, Bókun has shared insights from tour operators, alongside data revealing growing demand for people booking spooky tours on their own doorstep.
Searches for “ghost tours” surge year-round, driving bookings beyond the seasonal peak
Bókun analysed Google trends data to reveal that while interest in ghostly tours and experiences peak around halloween time, searches remain active throughout the year, suggesting that the fascination with the supernatural extends well beyond the seasonal peak.
In the past year, searches for “Halloween history tour” have surged by 415%, search demand for “ghost bus tour” has risen by 102% and “ghost walking tour” by 53%.
Demand for people seeking ghost experiences on their doorstep surges by 3,255%
Spooky experiences and ghost tours are often deeply rooted in history, local legends, and cultural storytelling. From York’s legendary ghost walks to Whitby’s Gothic heritage, locations across the UK have become synonymous with dark tourism, drawing hundreds of thousands of visitors each year.
However, Bókun has revealed that there is also a clear growing worldwide demand for people seeking spooky experiences on their own doorstep.
Over the past year, Google searches for “ghost experience near me” have increased by a staggering 3,255%, while searches for “halloween experience near me” increased by 1062% and searches for “spooky tours near me” have also seen an increase of over 232% in the past year.
Samuel Jefferies, Senior Growth Marketing Manager at Bókun, comments:
“Ghost tours and spooky experiences offer visitors a unique way to explore a destination, bringing local history, folklore and urban legends to life. While demand for these experiences has traditionally peaked around Halloween, growing year-round interest presents an opportunity for tour operators to capitalise on the appetite for spooky experiences beyond October, attract visitors during quieter periods and support local tourism throughout the year.”
To gain a better understanding of how the rise in dark tourism is creating year-round demand for spooky experiences, Bókun spoke to Ghostbus Tour by DoDublin Tours, an original ghost bus tour hosted by professional actors that takes in some of Dublin City’s most haunting sights.
Daniel O’Brien from Ghostbus tour said, “While people often associate the Ghostbus with Halloween, we’ve seen a growing appetite year-round for evenings that are a bit different: date nights, group outings, or a night out that doesn’t revolve around a drink.
“True crime podcasts and documentaries have made people curious about the real stories behind a place, and the paranormal has always had a following. However, social media has amplified it. A night on the Ghostbus is the kind of experience people want to talk about and share afterwards. More broadly, travellers want to see a side of a city that isn’t on the postcard, and dark history offers exactly that. Dark tourism taps into curiosity and lets people connect with places they’d normally just walk past.”
When asked about the rising demand from local tourists, Daniel said, “Much like on our Hop-on Hop-off tour, locals often feel they already know their city, until they hear a story they’ve never heard before. That’s when they engage, and it spreads through word of mouth, recommendations and reviews.”
Bókun also spoke to Alix Sinclair at Mercat Tours, which offers Halloween ghost tours of Edinburgh’s underground vaults.
Alix said, “The popularity of our Halloween tours continues to increase each year.
We offer our haunted tours year-round, with a market for them in every season. Bookings certainly take off for Halloween, but overall, there is always demand for a ghostly tour. Our Halloween programme went live in August, and we have seen steady bookings since then.”
Samuel Jefferies, Senior Growth Marketing Manager at Bókun concludes, “Growing interest in the supernatural and experiences that immerse people in history and storytelling presents an opportunity for local operators like Ghostbus Tours and Mercat Tours to drive bookings beyond the traditional peak season. And for local tourists, there’s never been a better time to discover the stories, secrets and supernatural history hiding in plain sight on their doorstep, throughout the halloween season and beyond.”
