Millennials and Gen Zers want human connection, so they're choosing travel tours with strangers to cure their loneliness
26.05.2024 - 11:01
/ insider.com
/ Brian Chesky
/ Matt Berna
Young people are seeking more human connection in the post-lockdown era, so they're embracing small-group travel.
Modern technology and social media apps have created a hyper-connected world, but many millennials and Gen Zers say the focus on screens has caused an epidemic of loneliness.
While New apps and local community groups are trying to address this "social distance" problem, some young people are choosing to book their vacations with strangers to find more face-to-face camaraderie.
Intrepid Travel, which organizes small-group experiences in over 100 countries, including Morocco and Sri Lanka, says it's seen a growing interest from young people in these kinds of group tours.
"They're prioritizing travel over buying houses, mortgages, and other expenses," Matt Berna, Intrepid Travel's president of the Americas, told Business Insider.
Group travel can be hit-or-miss with people. They can conjure an image of 40-plus tourists being led off a bus to an overcrowded attraction by their shouting tour guide.
But Berna said Intrepid Travel's focus on small group experiences is the opposite. The average Intrepid Travel group has 10 people.
"It allows us to travel like locals," Berna said. "We eat in small local restaurants. We stay in family-owned hotels. We typically avoid mass market tourism, hotels, or experiences."
It also allows people to form new bonds in a tight-knit setting, which young travelers crave, after the COVID-19 pandemic.
"Camaraderie in a group is so special because you make great friendships and share laughs and stories," Berna said.
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Berna said these unique experiences are popular with 18 to 29-year-olds — Intrepid Travel's core audience. Experiences are designed with young travelers in mind, offering more free time to explore on their own and more active outings.
Berna said Intrepid Travel began receiving requests from people in their 30s looking for adventures off the beaten path. Millennials traditionally valued experience-driven opportunities, and that desire hasn't waned with time.
"It became clear that millennials are aging, but the style they want to travel is immersive," Berna said. "If anything, they resonated more with Gen Z than the generations above them."
American Express Travel's 2023 Global Travel Trends Report found nearly 80% of millennials and Gen Zers respondents said they want to "partake in a day in the life of locals in the destination they are visiting," pointing toward activities like visiting local cultural sites and "hole-in-the-wall" attractions.
Airbnb, owned by millennial billionaire Brian Chesky, reported in 2020 that it also found that "immersive encounters" were becoming more popular with this generation, with interest up 102%