We may not always understand or appreciate millennials, but here’s something that’s indisputable: millennials have now emerged as the most important segment of the travel market.
Last year, according to figures released by Destination Canada, millennials generated over $200 billion to the tourism sector, thanks to 187 million international trips, and now account for 20 per cent of the total global travel market. And, the Canadian tourism group estimates that by 2020, millennials will make 300 million trips abroad.
However, travel companies and groups are discovering millennials are a unique group of travellers and are forcing changes within the industry. We at TraveLife have gleaned a number of surveys and studies and have come up with 10 things that make millennial travellers different than Gen Xers, Boomers and the Gen Z set:
1 Millennials like going it alone. Expedia (Canada) reports that the number of searches for the terms “solo travel” hit a peak in the first week of January 2018 — that’s almost 55 per cent higher than the same week the previous year, and the highest ever. A Princeton study found that 58 per cent of millennials like to travel alone.
2 According to a study conducted by Allianz Global Assistance (Allianz Insurance), 43.4 per cent of millennials do not buy travel insurance before they go abroad. According to the survey, 15.8 per cent felt travel insurance was unnecessary, 15.3 per cent thought it was too expensive and 14.9 per cent felt their trip was too short to warrant getting insurance.
3 Expedia (Canada) reports that millennials take the most trips per year — 3.1 each compared to Gen Xers, 2.8, Boomers, 2.7 and Gen Z members, 2.6.
4 Sixty-five per cent of Canadian millennials told Expedia they prefer to travel abroad while for Boomers that figure was 62 per cent, Gen X 59 per cent and 55 per cent for Gen Z.
5 Getting Canadian millennials to travel within their own country is a problem. According to Destination Canada, most of our millennials say domestic travel is too expensive and a majority told the travel group “foreign countries are more exotic and adventurous than Canada.”
6 According to Expedia, six in 10 Canadian millennials prefer booking their trips online, compared to 44 per cent of travellers aged 55 and older. Online gross bookings grew over 11 per cent in 2017 —amounting to $18.6 billion.
7 According to one survey, the biggest concerns for 56 per cent of millennials when travelling is safety and 51 per cent say cost.
8 U.S.-based Topdeck Travel conducted a survey among 31,000 people under 40 in 134 different countries and more of the respondents said they had visited Australia and New Zealand than Europe. Most said they chose Down Under because of “scenery” and because “English is the predominate language in both those countries.”
9 Hotels, including the Georgian Court Hotel in Vancouver and some Four Season properties, are responding to female millennial travellers by offering “women only floors” along with amenities like extra dress hangers, minibars stocked with smoothies, complimentary nylons and use of a flat iron. According to Paul Hennessy, CMO at Booking.com, “Our research suggests that female solo travel is a phenomenon that is here to stay.”
10 Other facts we discovered: Millennials spend more in destinations than other tourists because they stay longer; they are more likely to return to the destination; they promote destinations through social media; they are instigators of travel trends; and a large portion of millennials regard travel as an essential aspect of their lives. •