Millennials and Generation Z Travel Trends In 2020

Travel managing platforms predict an increase in tourism in 2020 by Millennials and Generation Z, according to travel platform, Veabor.

As Millenials and Generation Z individuals are exploring the world with a refound intention to discover new cultures, the rise of tourism is bound to occur. According to National Geographic, “More than ever people want to travel with a greater sense of purpose,’ says Deborah Calmeyer, CEO and founder of Africa travel specialist Roar Africa”.

Currently, there are 4 stages on a trip: Inspiration, Research, Booking, and Taking the Trip. All of which roots back to the influence of social media, and the digital access growth within rural areas according to Veabor.

Check out these 4 new trends that will rise with the increase of tourism:

An increase in travel among millennials as they hit the workforce: 57% of millennials consider traveling and seeing the world as their main ambition, according to the Deloitte Social Millennial Survey.  As millennials continue to join the workforce and increase their disposable income, we expect the age group to increase participation considerably compared to other groups within the travel market.

The availability of multiple online travel services has created a competitive market, and has improved the affordability of products and facilitated the process of booking like never before.  These circumstances will continue to drive growth from younger demographics, as their demand for products is more elastic to price changes than older age groups according to a poll by Expedia Media Solutions.

Social media will make a deeper impact on travel in 2020: The rise of social media has highlighted the importance of socialization for this particular age group and therefore will result in a complete change of the travel market that will affect preferences on destinations, purchase habits and the size of travel groups. This is based on increasing participation by a  younger generation that spends more of their income on travel and highlights importance as a driver for socialization.

According to the Expedia Media Solutions poll, this trend is particularly visible in Generation Z, where 87% of travel decisions are influenced by social media that include Facebook, Instagram, and Snapchat.

Mobile will become more popular at every stage of travel: According to a report by Expedia Media Solutions, Millennials and Generation Z use mobile devices at almost twice the rate at which Generation X and Baby Boomers do at every stage.  There seems to be a trend at every stage, except booking, where the degree of use of mobile devices is used the most by millennials compared to the younger travelers of Generation Z.

Nevertheless, the use of mobile phones in the booking is still dominated by both of the younger age groups. Also, we expect mobile to increase its participation in the Research and Booking stages for younger age groups, as more mobile alternatives facilitate this process compared to the more common desktop option that currently dominates the research and monetization stages of travel.

 

Average travel party size will increase: Due to the rise of the millennials and Generation Z as the fastest-growing group of travelers, we expect an increase in the average size of the travel party because of the increased importance of socialization in this specific age group.

According to a CWT Connected Traveler Study, 58% of millennials travel with others compared to 42% for Gen X and 29% for Baby Boomers.  As a group planning app, our user demographics further highlight this trend of younger travelers compared to older groups. Our data points out that 75% of our recent downloads are attributed to people between the ages of 18 and 34, and we expect travel size of groups to increase specifically for younger age groups in the short term.

 

Ecotourism will become more popular: According to Deloitte, in the last decade awareness of sustainable travel issues and willingness to spend on environmentally friendly destinations have risen by a third in the last decade, and according to GlobalData, 41% of millennials are interested in booking an ecotourism holiday.

Our social data also highlights the importance of ecotourism as a growing preference for group travelers, and that travelers tend to be more interested in natural parks and beaches compared to traditional destinations. The younger age group, which has more information and tools to travel than ever before, appears to be more interested in the exotic than in the traditional.