The Gen-Z cohort plans to splurge on travel this year, more than any other generation, according to a study.
The
Avail State of Travel in 2022 study
reveals that 72% of Gen Z travelers say they plan to spend more or the same in 2022 compared to the pre-COVID era, compared with 70% of millennials and 61% of baby boomers.
The study of 2,000 Americans also asked different cohorts if they planned to invest in a big trip, with 71% of Gen Z travelers agreeing they would, along with 68% of millennials, 60% of Gen Xers and 51% of baby boomers.
In addition, 71% of the Gen Z, born from 1997-on, is making plans to travel more this year, matched by the same volume of millennials.
Providing insight into how Gen Z might pay for their trips is a separate study from payments specialist
Thune
.
The report says that Gen Z is turning to social media and using mobile wallets for transactions, among other trends highlighted.
The Thune report reveals that “Zoomers” now make up 2.5 billion people, having surpassed millennials in 2019.
It says that Gen Z is influenced by social media more than any other generation, with eight out of 10 checking into accounts multiple times per day.
In addition, 66% say they have gone on to purchase products they initially discovered online.
The cohort also spurns traditional financial products, according to Thune, with 62% not having a bank account and an increasing number, almost 50%, using a mobile wallet in emerging markets.
The research adds that almost 25% of Zoomers in Western markets never use cash, although cash payments still prevail in emerging markets.
The trend away from traditional financial products is also revealed in the emergence of newer travel payment methods such as buy now pay later (BNPL).
Startup
Fly Now Pay Later landed $75 million in funding
earlier this year, while late last year, payments specialist
Klarna acquired online trip planner Inspirock
, opening up further BNPL options for travel.
Peter De Caluwe, CEO of Thune, says: “This is a generation to which 'dial-up' and 'desktop' are meaningless words and who don’t just think mobile-first,' but live and breathe in apps, social media, digital platforms and soon - the metaverse. We should start to take this generation seriously as the revenues and strategic plans of many businesses - especially those that are relying on fast growth - are dependent on them.”
The Thune study was conducted via interviews with 6,500 people aged 16 to 24 from 13 developed and emerging countries.
The trends highlighted in both studies mirror recent
Phocuswright research on Gen Z
, revealing that the cohort find social media most useful for destination and in-destination activity research.
Gen Z’s use of social media for other travel components was also ahead of all other generations except millennials.