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Short getaways, cheap tickets & equal travels: Who are the travelers of Generation Z?

October 25, 2021
  • The UK and Japan’s Gen Z travelers were most affected by the pandemic
  • Americans and French are the most traveled Zoomers
  • One out of five book their ticket just 1 to 3 days in advance
  • No gender bias: 50.52% are female travelers

25 October 2021 – Zoomers are the generation born between the late 90s and early 2000s. A period when traveling went from being rarely affordable to becoming mainstream, mandatory in some cases, and cheap!

Travel-tech company, Kiwi.com, has delved into their data to analyze the profile of the currently youngest generation of travelers to see whether their travel habits were affected by the pandemic.

Who are these travelers and where do they come from?

Zoomers from the U.S.A, France, the U.K., Germany, and Italy travel the most, with Americans being in first place (16.43% of all Gen Z bookings over the last 3 years). Europeans make up a big part of the most travelled Zoomers around the world, with Ukrainians, Spaniards, Czechs, Poles, Greeks and all three Scandinavian countries featuring in the top 30. Other Gen Z travelers that you will most likely come across during your travels are Russians, Israelis, Colombians, Japanese and Chinese.

Over thirty percent (31.71%) prefer to book their trips more than 30 days in advance, while almost one out of five (18.6%) will book just 1 to 3 days before their actual departure.

Gen Z travel decisions do not appear to be affected by gender, with women having only a minimally higher share of 50.52%.

When traveling in groups Zoomers mostly travel with their generation peers.

Where do they travel?

Uncomplicated travel requirements and affordable tickets played a massive role in the travel decisions for this generation, with Zoomers traveling around the globe easily.

In Europe, they chose to go to London, Paris, Barcelona, Milan, Athens, while when it comes to the U.S., they chose New York, Los Angeles, Denver, Las Vegas, and Miami.  Other popular destinations for Zoomers are Mexico City, Lima, Cancun, Istanbul, Bangkok, and Tokyo.

Short trips are common among this generation, with 74.66% of the Kiwi.com bookings made by Zoomers being 3 day  getaways or less.  The second most popular length of stay in a destination is more than seven days at 11.72%, followed by 5-7 days at 9.18% and 4-5 days at 7.7%.

Travels during July, August, and September are preferred by this generation, which is probably connected to university holidays.

How much do they spend? 

Almost 60% (57.77%) of all bookings made by Gen Z are virtually interlined, meaning they chose to self-connect and involve one or more layovers.  This results in more route options being available and cheaper itineraries.

Zoomers from Poland, Ukraine, Slovakia, Greece, and Romania are among the ones that spend the least and light travel seems to be a common trait among this generation, with 76% of zoomers not purchasing checked-in baggage.

Raised in the era of the internet, Zoomers are ruling digitally. Over 40% (40.66%) use the Kiwi.com app to plan and book their travels.

Who got affected more by the pandemic?

In 2019 most traveling zoomers were coming from the U.S.A., France, the U.K., Germany, Spain, and Japan. After the pandemic outbreak, this has changed, and in 2021 we see other nationalities taking top places and new nationalities appearing. 

While USA and France remained first, Italy, Ukraine, and Germany completed the top 5 this year, with the United Kingdom falling down to the eighth place and Japan to 28th.

Other nationalities that weren’t seen as contenders before such as Peru, Kazakhstan, India, and Lithuania, made it to the top 30 this year.

Overall the travel among Zoomers seems to be recovering well, with 2021 booking volumes so far being just 16.4% lower than in 2019.  In fact, they own 20% of 2021 bookings, which is a high share considering it is only a 6-year window (18-24-year-olds).

– Ends –

About Kiwi.com

Kiwi.com is a leading travel tech company headquartered in the Czech Republic, employing over 1,000 people worldwide. Kiwi.com’s innovative Virtual Interlining algorithm allows users to combine flights across legacy and low-cost airlines into one single itinerary. Kiwi.com performs 2 billion price checks per day across 95% of global flight content enabling customers to find better route options and prices other search engines can’t see. Fifty million searches are carried out every day on Kiwi.com’s website and over 25,000 seats are sold daily.

Media Contacts

Kiwi.com
Carol Barnes, Head of Global Communications, Kiwi.com
[email protected]

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