Millennials and Gen Zs are prioritizing travel this year, with a vast majority planning to take more than one trip in the next 12 months, a recent survey by Marriott Bonvoy has found. According to the survey, 73% of Gen Zs and Millennials in Asia Pacific excluding China (APEC) intend to take at least two trips in the next 12 months and 91% plan to spend the same on their trips compared to 2023.
Travel is considered as a significant lifestyle component, with many participants willing to cut down on daily expenses – dining out (60%), shopping sprees (57%) and daily coffee (54%) – to spend more on a holiday.
Despite their young age and comparatively low income, Gen Zs are traveling and quite frequently, another survey revealed. Despite their initiation to travel being affected by the pandemic, the generation is making up for lost time by traveling often, according to a survey on Gen Z travel trends by Morning Consult. About 52% of the Gen Z adults were found to be frequent travelers, meaning they took at least three leisure trips in 2022. This share is much bigger than it is for higher-earning Gen Xers and baby boomers and is on par with Millennials. With Gen Zs growing up and increasing their spending power, they are expected to outpace Millennials.
Only 11% of Gen Zs who travel frequently belong to households earning $100,000 or more per year, the Morning Consult survey found. About 61% said they earn less than $50,000 annually.
The top three reasons motivating American Gen Zs to travel were to relax, escape or get away and spend time with friends and family. However, the data suggested that they were motivated to travel for adventure, mental health and cultural experiences compared to older generations.
Hotels are an important part of every travel experience, with 99% of respondents in Marriott Bonvoy’s survey stating that their choice of hotel can make or break a holiday. Going beyond the traditional role of accommodation, hotels also emerged as a key destination for exploration as 84% of the respondents said they look forward to staying at a hotel with designs and activities which reflect the destination. Hotels are also a motivator for Millennials and Gen Zs to maximize their travel budget, with these two generations willing to spend more on hotel’s room offerings (84%) and location (42%).
With APEC Millennials and Gen Zs prioritizing frequent travel plans, a majority of them prefer the simplicity of subscribing to one loyalty travel program. While 60% of the respondents are subscribed to loyalty programs, it becomes challenging to juggle them together resulting in around 57% seeking out a single program which meets their needs, suggested Marriott Bonvoy’s survey.
Leveraging on their familiarity with loyalty programs, Gen Zs and Millennials use several tactics to make the most out of their travel rewards. Four in five respondents said they have gone out of their way to utilize a travel-linked credit card for daily purchases, while 67% said they use a travel loyalty program to book and redeem local experiences and staycations.
In APEC, Marriott Bonvoy members accumulated points from stays in more than 8,800 Marriott International properties worldwide and through everyday spend. In 2023, redemption for hotel stays skyrocketed 130% compared to pre-pandemic times, accounting for most of the redemptions, followed by points-to-miles conversions on partner airlines.
Despite the revival of international travel, Millennials and Gen Zs prefer destinations closer home and 55% of the respondents said they are opting for destinations within the region which provide experiences similar to foreign destinations. These “destination dupes” are increasingly becoming popular among this segment because they allow Gen Zs and Millennials to stretch their travel expenses (69%), discover something new (63%) and are easily accessible (62%).
The study was based on 1,000 respondents across 10 markets in APEC to understand the evolving attitudes of Millennials and Gen Zs and what influences their travel patterns.