Jennifer Mintzer, CTIE
Statement of Purpose
This paper will explore how members of the Millennial Generation and Generation Z make travel decisions, tactics to best sell to these demographic groups and the broader ethical considerations implicit in encouraging this demographic group to travel abroad. This analysis will inform recommendations for college educators and study abroad administrators as to how to best advise young travelers embarking on international adventures.
Background
As a study abroad administrator at a small university in the Philadelphia area, I encounter college students on a daily basis. The population I deal with often have little-to-no previous international travel experience and it is often the first time many of them are getting a passport to go on a short-term faculty-led trip or a semester or summer abroad. A recent analysis of what prevents our students from engaging in an international experience include financial reasons (the number one reason), academic reasons, job commitments, sports commitments, family commitments, fear and family members who discourage it. In short, students have busy schedules and limited funds as the primary obstacles in their lives. Despite this, the desire to travel is strong with nearly 50% of surveyed students indicating they would like to travel abroad at some point in their lives.
Interestingly, on many of our short-term trips (where students have to pay approximately $3000 for a week-long trip) I have found that students sometimes are excited to sign-up for the trip, but some struggle to even make the $200 deposit we require (the remaining costs get put on their spring tuition bill). I generally advise that if a student is financially struggling to put up a $200 deposit, then perhaps a $3000 overall commitment is not financially prudent – however, this advice sometimes falls on deaf ears. The desire to travel often seems to outweigh the financial obstacles they might be encountering and there is an increased willingness to go into debt for these experiences.
I often ask students why they decided to sign up for a short-term, faculty-led trip. Students have referenced having a poster up in their room of the Eiffel Tower and how they want to see it in person. Others have cited wanting to go on the trip because their friends have signed up. There is a distinct “fear of missing out” factor that is communicated by most students and a desire to see iconic sites in person that they have only see photos of.
When students return from studying abroad, their main memories relate to the confidence they feel in themselves and the connections they made with fellow students. They rarely complain about logistical hiccups and are, in my experience, easily adaptable and able to “go with the flow” without having an overly elaborate pre-determined itinerary.
Demographics of Millennials and Generation Z Travelers
Though definitions vary slightly as to who falls into the Millennial Generation, for the purpose of this paper, Millennials are defined as those born between 1981 and 1995. Generation Z is defined as those born between 1996 through 2010.
Millennials
Based on my personal experience in a university study abroad office, the willingness of Millennials and Generation Z students to go into debt to travel is not surprising. The data clearly echoes what I witness firsthand. A recent study, for example, found that 37% of Millennials are willing and likely to go into debt for travel (compared to 27% of Gen Xers and 15% of Baby Boomers. Nearly 45% of Millennials see travel as being about exploration rather than as something required for a special occasion such as a birthday or a wedding (Travel Now, Pay Later, 2019). 33% of polled Millennials are willing to spend $5000 or more on a vacation (Varricchio, et al.). The United Nations estimates that 20% of all international travelers are Millennials which encompasses approximately 200 million people (Mya).
According to the Forbes article “How Millennials Travel and What It Means for Business”, millennials are traveling in “new and unexpected ways.” The article notes that young people are spending more money on experiences rather than things and that major life events such as marriages, mortgages and children are being delayed longer than past generations (Fromm). Travel is a form of social currency among Millennials with status being associated with being able to post about their travels online. With this in mind, Millennial owner of For the Love of Travel Tara Cappel advises that “the number one way to attract millennials is to offer and execute well on something so unique that people feel compelled to share it on their social media” (Fromm). She states “we consider ourselves citizens of the world and we have an enthusiastic desire to immerse ourselves in another place and return rejuvenated, inspired and ready for our next adventure. We are travelers” (Fromm).
Interestingly, food is also just as important as museums, monuments and beaches with 90% of young professionals indicating that trying local food is important to them when they travel (Fromm).
Immersive, personally-enriching, visually-stimulating adventures are the niche that younger generations gravitate to and they are willing to spend money to obtain those experiences.
Generation Z
While many lump Gen Z in with Millennials (and they are very similar in their approach to travel choices), research indicates that Gen Z is slightly more conservative than their Millennial elders in how they spend money. They are just as interested in travel, but they are “trying to be more fiscally responsible with it” (Biesiada). As with Millennials, Generation Z sees local experiences are desirable (ie. ones where they get to interact with local people) and they tend to rely on online searching more than Millennials. They are the most likely of all generations to travel internationally (Biesiada).
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Some research indicates that Generation Z travelers want adventure, while Millennials want comfort; 83% of millennials said they prefer all-inclusive and other worry-free vacations, and 70% stayed in a hotel on their last trip. 81% of Generation Z said budget is a factor in how and where they travel (Sheivachman).
Suggestions for Selling Travel to Millennials and Generation Z
Visual stimulation: Millennials are constantly visually stimulated and sellers of retail travel should capitalize on this when selling to this age range (Fromm).
Authenticity: A key thing to remember when marketing to Millennials is to be authentic. The group responds well to an honest approach. Instead of hiding flaws in a trip, be open to Millennials and they may perceive the flaws as quirks (MDG Advertising).
Informal sales pitch: An informal approach is preferable versus a practiced sales pitch. They will tune out if too many superlatives are used. They respond better to a two-way conversation versus being talked at or lectured (MDG Advertising).
Transparent pricing stressing value for cost spent: Budget is important to millennials and Generation Z. Loyalty programs work well with this demographic. Offer lower cost accommodations (MDG Advertising). Providing transparent pricing is important to establish transparency and trust (DeSalvio). If a Gen Zer “sees value, they’re going to be willing to do it” (Biesiada).
Offer travel easily booked online: Since Millennials and Gen Z mediate the world through their phones, make things easy to book via online portals. One Millennial travel agent noted that she has booked with another company when her first choice made it difficult to book something online (DeSalvio). Convenience is king in making a sale.
Pay attention to word-of-mouth and online review profile: Since the Internet is a key way to entice Millennial and Generation Z travelers, ensure that you monitor your agency’s online reputation as that is where the complaints will show up if a Millennial or Gen Zer is unhappy with their experience. (MDG Advertising). Cappel notes that Millennials “respect and rely on the opinion of their peers and if we see something super cool in a friend’s feed, that is way more credible than any magazine ad or sponsored post” (Fromm).
Focus on what’s important to them: Focus on what’s relevant to their interests. They will tune out if you ramble on about things they don’t care about. If you quickly determine that an individual has no interest in museums, for example, focus on other things.
Sell local experiences with Instagram appeal that speak to personal transformation: Pitch local experiences that speak to this group’s desire to interact with native people in a location. Talk more about the spiritual transformation that will occur in the individual versus minutia relating to the trip logistics. Talk to them about memories they will make with peers and stress how visually appealing a location is.
Ethical considerations
Cultural Appropriation
Given this group’s desire to have more experiences with local populations than past generations, this opens the door to a set of ethical considerations as to how to best advise young travelers when interacting with the world.
At a university level, in particular, it is crucial to educate Millennial and Generation Z travelers on the importance of how they are perceived by the locals they are interacting with and how to tactfully post their experiences online without perpetuating stereotypes. Hence, a degree of visual literacy is important as is general travel literacy.
To wit, while Millennials and Gen Zers may be drawn to local experiences, it is important to advise travelers against commodifying the locals as simply props for their Instagram photos. There is a danger, for instance, of sending a tour group to developing nations and having travelers posting smiling photos of themselves with economically-struggling locals. Students should also be educated about the concept of the “white savior complex” (ie. white people going into a location for the purpose of helping non-white people with the appearance of such acts being self-serving) and why it is important to avoid this.
Travelers should be encouraged to maintain the dignity of those in the photos and should understand that one should not be photographing locals without developing some degree of relationship or interaction with them. Most importantly, travelers should be mindful to always ask the permission of locals they would like to photograph (Gharib). One suggestion for students is to not place themselves as the main focus on a photo. Selfies are generally discouraged as they generally “read” as culturally insensitive and the focus of the photos should be the local people, not the traveler. In other words, make the locals the “heroes” of the photos instead of using them as human props in an Instagram photo shoot (Gharib).
Debt Considerations
A survey conducted by Credit Karma revealed that about half of Millennials and Generation Z went into debt for summer travel, but few regret it (Ward). Notably 76% of of Gen Z don’t regret going into debt for summer travel last year. One third of respondents indicated a YOLO (you only live once) mentality leading them to their decision to spend and 11% of respondents indicated a FOMO (fear of missing out) mentality leading them to purchase travel. Other reasons cited were “I work really hard and deserve a break” (25%), “the trip was on my bucket list” (13%) and “Because my friends were going” (5%) (Ward).
Since one cannot dictate how another person spends their money, it is important from an ethical standpoint to provide travel experiences that can be spun as something that a young person can add to their resume to demonstrate intercultural competence or specific professional development. Since securing a job upon graduation will have importance to them after graduation, it is useful to potentially mention how these experiences can be both personally transformative as well as professionally relevant in being used as salient experiences to cite in interviews and to list on a resume. As educators, the responsibility is to provide opportunities where students are being exposed to experiences that are not only enjoyable but also have an element to them that students can capitalize on when it comes to a job hunt.
Conclusion
Millennials and Generation Z are keen to explore the world and to dive deeper into new cultures than previous generation were. The reward perceived with spending money on travel is high and these generations are willing to spend money when they perceive the travel experience to be personally fulfilling. This is hopeful, for there is a potential for these generations to forge stronger intercultural friendships in their desire to truly know and explore other cultures. With this in mind, it is important for sellers of travel to stress the value these experiences can have when it comes to posturing oneself on the job market in the future. While posting photos on Instagram and garnering social cache is often an important travel factor for many in these generations, educators can help combat narcissistic, self-consumed travel by teaching college students basic concepts regarding cultural appropriation and intercultural sensitivity.
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