All Together Now

All Together Now

I quite often give presentations explaining the characteristics of our future consumers – Generations Y and Z when actually, they are just about all grown up now.  Gen Y were born around 1977 to 1995 and are referred to as the Millennials.  Generation Z were born roughly from 1996 onwards to 2012.  After them comes the current newbies, Generation Alpha.

A recent survey I have seen looks at multigenerational travel.  It’s not something I have given much thought to before other than family holidays, which more often than not imply parents and younger children who are not yet earning and spending their own money.  However, I am going multigenerational over Christmas with three generations and a separate trip over the New Year with two generations, so I was intrigued to see what we might learn from this survey.  It is called Generations On The Move and was commissioned by GroupAccommodation.com.  It is an interesting insight into some of the factors that govern the selection and booking of multigenerational trips.

These are family holidays and for the purposes of the survey, multigenerational trips were defined as leisure trips with at least three generations of the same family such as a grandparent, parent and child travelling together.  Here are some of the more interesting findings.

Fast becoming a ‘universal truth’ is the importance of social media in influencing the decision on where to take a holiday.  However, the survey respondents reported that social media was the least important factor. The top four in order of importance were:

  1. Ease of getting there
  2. Weather
  3. Ease of getting around once there
  4. Affordability

Once on holiday, 51% of the baby boomers (age 55+) thought that the task of researching what to do was evenly split whilst 49% of Millennials thought it was actually them dong the work (the highest of any group).  Perhaps this is because Millennials feel they are old enough to take responsibility but also are as adept at online research as their younger Gen Y and Z fellow travellers.

Not surprisingly it was the younger generations who reported that they most dread multigenerational holidays:

  • 23% of Gen Z
  • 21% of Millennials
  • 18% of Gen X

Compared to just 6% of Baby Boomers.  In particular, Gen Z (35%) and Millennials (26%) would rather be on holiday with their friends.  It was also these two generations who most stated that it can be hard juggling different wants and needs within the group (over 60%).

Overall, though, the survey respondents found multigenerational holidays to be an OK experience with a good proportion saying they were fun, catered for a range of different needs and were special family time, and 50% of respondents are planning another multigenerational trip for 2019.

Google multigenerational travel and you will see that the trend of three generations going on a trip together is on the rise.  I will be doing it over the festive period, will you?

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Paul Richer is Senior Partner of Genesys, a management consultancy specialising in providing advice on technology for the travel, tourism and hospitality industries. Genesys has built a worldwide reputation for its knowledge and experience of new system procurement, online technology and strategies including website audits and online booking systems, reviewing and formulating companies’ IT strategies and more. Clients include many of the best known names in travel. Paul has co-authored several reports examining the impact of technology on the distribution of travel, including “Distribution Technology in the Travel Industry” originally published by Financial Times Retail and “Marketing Destinations Online – Strategies for the Information Age” published by the World Tourism Organisation. He has presented at and chaired many online travel conferences, is regularly quoted in the press and has also been invited to make several appearances on television to debate the subject. Prior to founding Genesys in 1994, Paul was Business Development Director of Finite Group plc and Head of the Group’s IT strategy consultancy. He holds an MBA from Cranfield School of Management, is a Fellow of the Institute of Travel & Tourism and Member of the Chartered Institute of Marketing. More information at http://www.genesys.net/

One comment

  1. an enlightening view of how to make travel plans for 3 baby boomers, millennials and x generations, because we in Indonesia still like to travel with our parents and children, maybe the results will be different from some other countries in the world, whether because indeed we are easterners, who still uphold family values

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