Bókun has announced the six winners of its 2026 Unreal Experiences Photo Competition. The competition, which closed in August 2026, drew more than 370 entries from experience operators worldwide across three categories: Epic Landscapes, Local Lives and Adventure Awaits and attracted more than 2,300 public votes. Winners were selected in two streams: a People’s Choice award decided by public vote, and a Panel Choice award judged by representatives from Bókun, Tourpreneur and Tripadvisor.
Ice Pic Journeys, Mauritius Tours and Ayubowan Escapes took the three People’s Choice categories, while Sycamore Ethiopia Tours, H.I.S. Song Han Vietnam and Bliss Adventure were chosen by the panel. Bókun ran the competition to highlight the role authentic photography plays in winning bookings, a point underlined by research published alongside the results. In a survey of 2,000 travellers across the UK and Italy, 72% said AI-generated photos would make them less likely to book a tour or experience, and 47% named AI imagery as their single biggest put-off when browsing experiences online.
The same research confirms how much weight travellers place on photography. Almost three quarters (72%) said photos are important when deciding whether to book, ranking imagery third behind only price and location and ahead of trip details and customer reviews. Asked which images most influence a booking, travellers pointed to “wow” shots of the landscape or destination (50%), photos of the experience in action (49%), and images of people enjoying the experience (45%). For inbound operators competing for attention in crowded online listings, the implication is that an authentic image of the real thing outperforms a polished, generated alternative.
The full research findings, including guidance for operators on which images to lead with, are available on the Bókun blog: What travellers really want to see before they book. The winning photographs can be viewed here.
