Millennials are gradually crossing the forty-year milestone, and the CNBC portal became interested in the travel habits of these guys, which largely determined the appearance of today’s travel industry.
Millennials are usually people who were born between 1981 and 1996. You can also find the wording “generation Y” or “generation next”. This generation entered the third millennium by young people and became the first one that hardly thinks of its life without smartphones and smart programs. It is believed that for the most part it was millennials who brought technology, a sense of responsibility and a new culture of money spending to travel.
Generation Y loves traveling
According to the research company Morning Consult, millennials travel more actively than baby boomers (1946-1964 years of birth) or representatives of generation X (1965-1980 years of birth). For our latitudes, this is not surprising, but in the West, not a lot of resources are concentrated in the hands of baby boomers. The statistics for the States are as follows: 18% of millennials, 10% of “X” and only 6% of baby boomers have had three or more domestic flights over the past year.
Interestingly, travel is perceived by millennials as a right rather than a privilege. “For them, the travel experience is part of their identity, not a tick on their wish list,” says Lindsay Roschke, an analyst at the company.
They spend, but they don’t squander
Because of the need to “dig up” millennials postpone everything in life in general – from buying their first car to getting married. However, if they are faced with a choice: to put a hundred or two in a piggy bank or spend it on a trip, they often choose the latter. Vacation is quite high on their list of priorities, and this explains the willingness to invest in it.
At the same time, according to the observations of the insurance company InsureMyTrip, millennials do not exactly travel in the style of “like the last time”. On the whole, they spend more on tickets than representatives of other generations, but on the spot they are looking for economy options and optimize the budget for the trip in every possible way. So it turns out that where an American baby boomer will pay $ 6126 for a trip, a millennial will cost $ 4141 (insurers focused on insurance policies sold from 2020 to 2023; for comparison, $ 5060 was spent on average by representatives of generation X and $ 2788 – Z).
Impressions are valued more than things
According to American Express Travel’s 2023 Global Travel Trends Report, 46% of the travel budget of millennials goes expensively (the same trend, by the way, is observed in generation Z). Like no one else, millennials are focused on mental health and opportunities to relax. Among generation Y, the popularity of hotels with spas and destinations where you can take good care of your health is growing.
Also, both Y and Z generation are inspired to travel by movies and TV shows, Instagram and TikTok.
Those who are only a little over forty, and younger people emphasize how important a responsible approach to travel is for them. “Approximately 82% of Generation Z travelers and millennials say they are interested in going on a vacation that will have a minimal impact on the environment, compared with 72% of Generation X and 64% of boomers,” said Audrey Handley, CEO of American Express Travel. Millennials carefully plan routes and their “program”, including items like “try local food” or “visit the place where they filmed their favorite TV series.”
Prefer apartments to hotels
Frederic Lalonde, CEO of the Hopper app, told one of the travel forums that his clients are twice as likely to stay in apartments and houses than in hotels. According to the British research company YouGov, in 2022 millennials accounted for almost half of Airbnb customers – this is more than representatives of Generation X and baby boomers combined.
It’s not surprising when you consider that many millennials have become parents and are now traveling with children. Since 2019, Airbnb rentals have grown the most among travelers with children six years old and younger. In the apartment, they count on a separate bedroom for their child. In addition, the owners of the facilities often offer cots, high chairs, and toys.
More and more travel with children
To win back customers, global hotel chains have even launched brands aimed at millennials: these are, for example, Moxy and Aloft from Marriott, Canopy and Curio from Hilton, Even and voco from IHG. They lure Y-travelers with fashionable interiors, free cocktails, gastronomic delights, wellness services and options for the youngest.
Many hotels are trying to refocus on “family holidays”: they make themed children’s rooms and are always ready to stuff the room with all the stuff that millennial offspring may need. If earlier in some luxury hotels during the day with fire you would not have found a microwave, a washing machine or a high chair, now there are fewer problems with this. Somewhere, on request, they will even bring a refrigerator that maintains the temperature necessary for the safe storage of breast milk. And in other places, the child will be given a scooter to slightly simplify the life of parents who are not yet accustomed to the slower pace of travel dictated by the expansion of the family.