Travel Statistics By Age Group: 17 Facts Trends To Know (Explained)

Looking for travel statistics by age group?

Traveling is something that just about everyone, regardless of their age, loves to do. Despite the common attraction of traveling, the statistics show that traveling trends differ by age group, as you probably expected.

For example, Generation Z tends to travel the most internationally, but Millennials spend the most on their travels.

Learning travel statistics can be enlightening, whether you are a traveler yourself or wanting to run a tourist-based attraction. From our own research, we found out that travel statistics based on age group is more exciting and interesting than one would realize.

To find out about traveling statistics based on age group, read on. This article gives you an extensive overview of all the major age groups’ traveling trends. Whether you are reading just out of interest or need to home in on your target audience, let’s get started.

Table of Contents

Travel Statistics By Age Group

Instead of simply comparing age groups to one another, it may be helpful to look at each age group individually and then compare them. We will take a look at each age group, going from the youngest to the oldest.

Students and Generation Z

The first age group we are going to look at are students, who are most commonly Generation Z. Not all students are Generation Z, and not all Generation Z are students. Still, these two groups are typically put together today.

👉 Even though students are typically depicted as broke and living off Raman, a surprising 20% of international travels are attributed to the student populations.

👉 As a result, students are responsible for 1/5 of the $320 billion market that is international travel.

Since Generation Z is the most likely to travel internationally, the largest portion of their budget goes to flying and transportation as a whole.

👉 It is estimated that 1/4 of their traveling budget is spent on flights alone.

The fact that students are typically spoken about in terms of international travel brings up something very interesting about this younger group.

In the past, the younger generations typically demonstrated a backpack-style type of travel. Today, most student-aged people actually travel for educational purposes, not leisure purposes.

Perhaps more Gen Zers are traveling for educational purposes because many schools offer grants and scholarships for international travel. This affords the student age population more opportunities to travel internationally while still getting their degree.

Millennials

Out of all of the age groups, Millennials are the most studied in terms of travel trends. Most commonly, Millennials are looked at in terms of their spending habit, but they are studied for other reasons as well.

👉 For example, Millennial travel has increased by nearly 10% over the last decade.

This is a dramatic increase that probably relates back to Millennials beginning to have a much more substantial and long-term career than before, resulting in more financial stability.

In addition to the increase in numbers of Millennials traveling, Millennials are continuing to spend a lot more than most other travelers.

👉 Based on European results, most Millennials spend about £3,000 per trip, which adds up to £50 a day. This is a shockingly high number, especially since most of these travelers identify as being backpackers.

Generation X

When most people talk about age groups and traveling, one of the most commonly left out-groups is Generation X. Despite this fact, Generation X actually travels very frequently, both in terms of leisure and business travel.

👉 It is estimated that about 1/3 of every traveler classifies as a member of Generation X. In fact, Generation X travels so much that the average individual takes three to four trips every year.

Something that’s very interesting about Generation X is why they travel. Most commonly, Generation X travels due to a desire to explore the world and experience new cultures.

Although price is the number one factor for Generation X during their travels, they certainly want to experience new ideas at the same time.

Baby Boomers

Finally, the last age group we’re going to look at is the Baby Boomers. Being of retirement age, Baby Boomers are incredibly active in the traveling scene.

Most Baby Boomers plan four to five trips every year.

👉 Though the majority of Baby Boomers only travel domestically, about 40% of them travel both domestically and internationally.

For Baby Boomers, price and cultural interest are not as big of factors when it comes to booking travels. Instead, Baby Boomers are more interested in spending time with friends and family while traveling.

Comparing The Age Groups

Now that we have looked at each age group individually, let’s take a moment to compare the statistics to each other.

After all, knowing statistics really does not do you any good unless you can analyze what they mean for the people and society.

Frequency

Age Group	Average Number of Vacation Days Per Year
Generation Z	29
Millennials	35
Generation X	26
Baby Boomer	27

In terms of frequency, Millennials travel the most.

👉 They average 35 vacation days a year, which is over a month, in case you were not counting. The Millennials’ younger companions, Generation Z, only travel about 29 vacation days a year. Generation X and Baby Boomers are pretty comparable in terms of their frequency.

👉 Generation X averages 26 vacation days, whereas the boomers average 27.

It makes sense that Generation X travels the least since they have the most responsibilities. These individuals often have young children to take care of and they are not of retirement age yet. In contrast, Millennials often do not have children.

Purpose

The purpose for traveling differs dramatically between the different age groups, but they all still travel primarily for visiting friends or family. Baby Boomers, Millennials, and Gen Z are all over 50% likely to travel to visit family.

Still, Millennials like to travel for different reasons as well.

👉 13% of Millennials are looking for destinations that offer cultural experiences. Similarly, 45% of Millennials want to learn about themselves during their travels.

Gen Z, on the other hand, wants to vacation in order to avoid stress and relax more.

Spending Habits

Age Group	Percent That Claim Budget As Being A Leading Travel Factor
Generation Z	81%
Generation X	93%
Baby Boomer	57%

Because travel costs so much money, one factor that almost all studies consider is spending habits. As we have already mentioned, Millennials spend the most on trips.

In fact, they are most likely to go into debt due to travel. Still, Baby Boomers spend almost the same amount as Millennials, though they are less likely to go into debt.

Generations X and Z, on the other hand, consider budget heavily. As we already mentioned, Generation Z has to budget pretty smartly because of international airfare.

👉 Shockingly, 93% of Gen Xers look for the best deals, whereas 81% of Gen Z claim budget is the number one factor before making any decisions.

To put that in perspective, only about 57% of Baby Boomers make the same claims, and Millennials are much more likely to not consider budget almost at all.

What Age Groups Travel The Most?

What Age Groups Travel The Most? If we are looking at the age group alone, those aged between 23 and 38 traveled the most.

This is the age at which people are graduating college and are just beginning their more adult lives. As a result, they tend to have a bit of financial security, but they do not necessarily have as intense of financial or familial responsibilities as older age groups.

👉 In contrast, those who are aged 7 to 22 travel slightly less, but their stats are very similar to those who are between 41 and 56 years old.

The fact that these two age groups are so similar in terms of statistics makes sense since they tend to have a parent and child correlation.

👉 Whenever the parent travels, so too does the child. Interestingly, those aged between 41 and 56 travel slightly less than their 7 to 22 partners, likely because they do not get to go on summer vacation or other school-related breaks.

Which Generation Travels The Most?

Which generation travels the most? Out of the age groups we looked at, Millennials travel the most. On average, they have 35 vacation days a year, which is nearly ten days more than Generation X, which has the fewest number of average vacation days.

👉 Generation Z does not have as many vacation days either, but they travel much more internationally. Baby Boomers fall somewhere in between, having about 27 vacation days a year.

Even though Generation Z is most likely to travel internationally, Baby Boomers are traveling internationally too.

The fact that Millennials travel the most makes a lot of sense. This generation is still young and comes with fewer commitments, but they are more financially stable than Generation Z. Generation X and Baby Boomers, on the other hand, tend to have more responsibility in terms of family and jobs.

How Does Age Affect Tourism Demand?

The relationship between age and tourism is being hotly studied right now. At the moment, there seems to be a big shift in terms of what attracts tourists.

The younger generations, such as Generation Z and Millennials, tend to look for more authentic experiences, causing them to shy away from traditional tourist destinations.

Generation X and Baby Boomers, on the other hand, tend to be leading the traditionally touristy markets.

This is especially true of all-inclusive opportunities, such as cruises. Baby Boomers are becoming more active in the tourist scene, making them a large contributor to the tourist domain.

Before the pandemic began, it was actually looking like tourism was becoming in higher demand because of the aging Baby Boomer population.

As more Baby Boomers retire, they are able to travel more, resulting in demand within the tourist market.

How Old Are Millennials?

How Old Are Millennials? The boundary for Millennials is actually a bit blurry. Millennials, sometimes called Generation Y, were born between the years of 1981 and 1994 or 1996. This would make them between 25 to 40 years old on average.

What makes classifying Millennials even more difficult is the fact that they are typically split into two different categories. Generation Y.1 is between 25 and 29 years old, whereas Generation Y.2 is between 29 and 39 years old. Millennial is typically a term that refers to both Y.1 and Y.2.

More so, the boundary is further skewed because of the 1997 to 1999 babies, who do not fully identify with either Millennials or Generation Z.

How Much Do Millennials Spend On Travel?

Millennials easily spend the most on their travels.

How much do Millennials spend on travel? On average, Millennials will spend $1373 on their vacations. Shockingly, 1/3 of Millennials are actually willing to spend over $5000 on the right vacation. Because of this fact, Millennials are most likely to go into debt for their travels.

Although Millennials spend the most on average, Generation X and Baby Boomers cannot be called budget spenders necessarily.

👉 Generation X spends about $2628 on summer vacations, whereas Baby Boomers are anticipating spending over $6000 on multiple vacations in years to come.

How Many People Travel a Year?

It is difficult to estimate exactly how many people travel a year because every country has different measures for this.

👉 In terms of international travel, there are about 1.4 billion travelers per year. This number does not include domestic travel at all.

How many people travel a year? For domestic travels in the US, it was estimated that there were about 2.3 billion trips in the year 2019 alone. This number tells you the number of trips, not how many people were traveling.

Recap

All in all, Millennials travel the most out of all of the age groups, but Generation Z travels the most internationally, especially for educational purposes.

Meanwhile, Generation X and Baby Boomers tend to travel the least, but the frequency of their travels are increasing dramatically over the years.

Because of the pandemic, scholars expect future statistics to show a dip in Generation X and Baby Boomer travels simply because they are more at risk. It will be interesting to see how it affects all forms of travel and tourism.

References

https://groupstoday.com/