Millennial and Gen Z Travelers: Trends, Anxieties, and Shifting Priorities
Millennial and Gen Z Travelers: Trends, Anxieties, and Shifting Priorities
Skift Take
We take for granted that Gen Z's will be just as avid travelers as their older Millennial peers; that might be a bad assumption. Gen Zs still like to vacation but our new research shows that financial anxieties weigh heavily on these younger travelers.
Report Overview
The generational story in travel is changing. For years, millennials have been the key consumers in the industry, influencing everything from product development to brand messaging. However, as Gen Z makes up an ever-larger share of the traveling population, brands are contending with an audience that shares millennials’ love of seeing the world, but approaches travel with more caution, more scrutiny, and often higher expectations. Understanding where these generations diverge (and where they align) will be essential for brands planning for the next five years.
The need for travel brands to go beyond generational stereotypes is especially important now, as the industry is entering a period where affordability pressures, evolving technology, and shifting consumer expectations are colliding. Travel brands can no longer assume that enthusiasm for travel automatically translates into willingness to spend, or that the next generation of travelers will follow the same patterns as those before them.
This report is based on a Skift Research survey of approximately 1,000 Gen Z and millennials in the U.S. who traveled in the 12 months to December 2025. We explore how these two generations think about the role of travel in their lives, how they evaluate costs and trade-offs, and how they approach planning and decision-making.
What You'll Learn From This Report
- The Role of Travel in Millennial and Gen Z Lives
- Travel Priorities and Considerations for Younger Travelers
- How Millennial and Gen Z makes Travel Decisions
- How Gen Z and Millennials’ Approach to Travel will Evolve by 2030
