Young Travelers Have Very Different Motivations from Older Travelers

Travel for leisure and vacation is common across all generations, but the motivation and desire behind that leisurely travel is starkly different from generation to generation, a study finds.

A study by the McKinsey Company found that travel and new experiences have become a top priority for younger generations as compared to older generations, as younger people are more likely to financially prioritize travel and place a high value on experiencing new places.

Younger Generations Value Travel More

In a recent study conducted by the McKinsey Company, younger generations were found to travel more often and devote more of their incomes to travel compared to older generations.

"Younger generations appear to propel much of the rising interest in travel. In 2023, millennials and Gen Zers took, on average, nearly five trips, versus less than four for Gen Xers and baby boomers. Millennials and Gen Zers also say they devote, on average, 29 percent of their incomes to travel, compared with 26 percent for Gen Xers and 25 percent for baby boomers," the McKinsey Company wrote in its study.

It's worth noting that this trend is true even despite the fact that Millennials and Gen Zers have less discretionary income, on average, than Gen Xers or Baby Boomers.

Different Motivations for Travel

While younger generations were found to travel more often, the study found that the motivation for travel differed generationally, as well.

Younger travelers – Gen Z and Millennials – were far more likely to travel internationally than Baby Boomers or Gen Xers. The study found that the younger generations were planning a nearly equal number of international and domestic trips. Older generations, meanwhile, were planning to take roughly twice as many domestic trips.

The reason for this disparity likely comes down to a difference in motivation. While younger generations value new experiences and new locations, older generations place a much higher emphasis on other things.

"Younger travelers’ thirst for novelty might be motivating their urge to cross borders. Gen Zers say their number-one consideration when selecting a destination is their desire to experience someplace new. For Gen Xers, visiting a new place comes in at number eight, behind factors such as cost, ease of getting around, and quality of accommodation," the McKinsey Company wrote.

International travel has become more accessible to younger people, too, with the help of low-cost airlines and the proliferation of language translation software. The older generations, however, were more reluctant to embrace technology in their travels and far more reluctant to take lower-cost flights to save money.

Additionally, when it comes to cutting costs, Baby Boomers and Gen Xers were much more willing to pass up experiences to save money on a trip. In fact, both generations identified it as the first area where they would cut spending to save money. In contrast, Gen Zers reported that they would cut costs in all other categories before cutting experiences.

This finding is backed up by more recent studies, too.

“Gen Z is the most travel-hungry generation, not in a luxury sense, but in a ‘collect experiences early and often’ sense,” said Erifili Gounari, the chief executive and founder of the Z Link, a marketing agency focused on younger generations, via the New York Times. “A big shift I’m seeing is that Gen Z treats travel less like a vacation and more like a form of self-development, which is why programs offering meaningful or exclusive experiences land so well with them.”

Travel Change With Age?

While the data clearly suggests a divide amongst older and younger travelers, it's not totally clear whether this is a generational divide or a trend that is simply

It might seem obvious that younger travelers would value international travelers more than older travelers, but early evidence seems to suggest that this trend is continuing even as the younger generations age, as well.

"It remains to be seen whether this mindset shift will endure as younger generations get older. But early evidence from millennials suggests that they’ve retained their interest in international travel even as they’ve begun to age and form families. It could be that this is a lasting attitude adjustment, influenced as much by the changing dynamics of travel as it is by youth," the study finds.

We'll have to see how these trends continue to develop in the coming years, but a generational divide does seem to exist that transcends age.