NEW YORK — Quick—what comes to mind when you think of a Millennial traveler? Probably something clichéd, like a young couch-surfer checking off places on her bucket list, or a 30-something tacking on a few extra vacation days to a business trip to subsidize some much-needed adventure.
What probably doesn’t come to mind is a young family of three or four visiting a faraway beach resort, exploring an Asian capital or checking into an all-inclusive hotel, strollers and pool toys weighing them down.
But with a bulk of travelers aged 20 to 36 today entering the realm of parenthood and making quality family time a top priority, that’s exactly what’s happening. Millennials aren’t just traveling more than ever before: 44% of them are traveling with kids in tow. And those destinations that look past the Instagram-obsessed clichés can tap this ever-growing market.
Resonance Consultancy, a leading advisor in real estate, tourism, and economic development for countries, cities and communities, reveals this and many other insights in the new 2018 Future of Millennial Travel Report: A survey of America’s fastest growing tourism demographic, a 70-page trend briefing released last month.
The report surveyed more than 1,500 active U.S. Millennial travelers finding that more than half (58%) of U.S. Millennials who traveled overnight last year have children under 18 years of age in the household.
“Once kids enter the picture, U.S. Millennial parents continue to travel,” says Resonance Consultancy President Chris Fair. “In fact, our research shows that in the next two years, close to half of Millennial travelers plan to take family vacations. Family travel is the most popular type of vacation among this travel segment. Given that U.S. Millennials will spend $200 billion in 2018 alone, this is a massive opportunity for destinations and travel operators.”
So where are these Millennials with children traveling to?
Resonance research shows that 41% of them are visiting beach resorts, followed closely (36%) by those choosing major metropolitan cities as primary destinations. Interestingly, Millennial families are not shying away from visiting foreign countries, either. In fact, that’s where more than a quarter of parents choose to vacation.
Additionally, when asked what specific activities on vacation they enjoy regularly, occasionally, or would like to try, local cultural pursuits are the priority. Local Neighborhood and Community Events are prominent, at 70%, followed by Seeing Plays or Musicals, Music Festivals, and then Food and Wine Festivals. Local immersion was even more important to U.S. Millennial respondents with household incomes of $100,000 or more.
And as cruises become increasingly popular with Millennials, ships are shaping up, too: a partnership between Lindblad Cruises and Exhale, described by Travel Weekly as a “lifestyle and fitness brand with health and spa clubs across the country,” will make the National Geographic Seabird a veritable fitness club and adventure basecamp in the Sea of Cortez. On the menu, says Travel Weekly is everything from customized photography classes and snorkeling with sea lions to core fusion barre, bootcamp, high intensity interval training classes, Exhale power yoga classes on deck, yoga on stand-up paddleboards, hikes and group meditation. And evening cocktails, of course.
DISCOVER EVEN MORE ABOUT THE FUTURE OF U.S. MILLENNIAL TRAVEL
Get the full, free report at ResonanceCo.com/Reports/2018-future-millennial-travel-report/.
ABOUT RESONANCE CONSULTANCY
As leading advisors in real estate, tourism, and economic development for three decades, Resonance has completed more than 100 visioning, strategy, place branding, place marketing, policy, and public relations projects for destinations, economic development agencies, DMOs and developers in more than 70 countries. ResonanceCo.com @ResonanceCo.
Source: Resonance Consultancy