How Millennials Are Changing Current Travel Trends

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Millennials are viewed as the young and fun generation, known when travelling to prioritise experience over everything. With this generation spending $200 billion in total on travel, they are altering the way we all take holidays.

If you want to travel like the younger generation, here are eight ways millennials are changing travel, impacting other generations and the overall vacation experience.

Staying connected

While many of the older generations use travelling as a way to disconnect, it is essential for millennials to maintain a good internet connection to update their social media profiles regularly. 97% of millennials will share their travel experiences online, with 2 in 3 people posting a minimum of once a day.

To keep up with this growing trend, many accommodations, airlines and other travel companies will provide free wifi, complimentary earphones and other tech-savvy pieces of equipment to keep millennials satisfied.

Prime photo opportunities

The rise of social media platforms such as Instagram has changed travel as many millennials will prioritise ‘Intsagrammabilty’ when booking their locations to travel to. It has altered the tourism industry as desirable destinations want to have hotspots that will garner social media experience to attract more people to visit.

Authentic local experiences

Millennials have changed travel as they prioritise local experiences when they are travelling above features such as accommodation. While millennials seek local experiences, they still wish to maintain the luxury element that will help them garner attention on social media, meaning many hospitality industries will cater to these new experiences.

The millennial desire for authenticity can also have a positive impact on the tourism economy, as eating, shopping and living locally can help benefit local businesses.

Unique accommodation experiences

Millennials adore having unique accommodation experiences. Having quirky, unorthodox or uncommon accommodation options is great for social media and allows millennials to have a new travelling experience while staying.

To cater to this, many large budget hotels have begun to emulate the niche looks of smaller, boutique hotels, to try to cater to the millennial market. However, many millennials prefer better budget options such as Airbnb for their travel options.

Other millennials have taken to creating their own accommodation, often through renovations of vans and campervans to travel nomadically.

Creating a community

In addition to altering the appearance of their accommodation, many hospitality sectors are changing the designs of their hotels to create more communal spaces. Many millennials will work and interact in communal spaces, which has led to the creation of open spaces.

Accommodation options like hostels will feature communal spas, often with games, televisions and other entertainment centres, to encourage people from all walks of life to relax and engage with one another.

Cruises are keeping up

As well as changing traditional accommodation options, millennials have also had a noted impact on the cruise line industry.

Many cruise lines are trying to win over millennial travellers to keep them interested in their location destinations, including attractions such as bungee trampolines and bike rides, emphasising their understanding of millennials desire for a unique and interesting experience.

That being said, an increasing number of travelers are now hitting the road this year, with many choosing to rent a car. According to data from Avis, more travelers have booked trips less than a week out than in previous years, so if you’re planning a road trip, try to book ahead and ensure you’re insured.

Keeping fit

Millennials are often cited as the healthiest generation, with just shy of 70% of millennials participating in regular exercise. To accommodate this, many travel locations have begun creating sport and fitness centres or features to attract travellers.

With places offering fitness destinations to keep you active, millennials are more likely to retain workout routines while travelling.

Ultimate foodies

Millennials are considered the ultimate foodies, with food experiences dominating many of the travel features millennials enjoy. This trend has spread to other age groups, which has led to culinary markets attempting to up their game to make their food an experience. Some of the top food trends for travelling include sustainability, local authenticity, special events, and even learning to create local food themselves.

Millennials contribute much to the travel world, which is why they’re changing how it works. With innovative and social-media-driven ideas, it’s easy to see why millennials are changing travel.