Travel Trends: A Generational Shift

In traditional vacation markets, the vacation rental industry has enjoyed a 30 year trend of multi-generational family trips. Historically, the large family vacation consisted of a matriarch/patriarch who footed most of the bill for a large vacation home for kids and grandkids to gather annually. The ultimate win for a vacation rental manager was to capture and retain the same family for multiple years. However, changes in millennial behavior are creating a disruption in the traditional family vacation. Recent data is beginning to indicate a shift in family travel as millennials are experiencing a late start to adulting, demonstrated by living at home longer and delaying marriage and parenting. The millennial generation is the first since the Great Depression to grow up in a recession, which peaked in 2008. This generation has not experienced the economic prosperity enjoyed by previous generations, and this has shaped how and when they form their families and raise children. So far, only 26% of millennials are married, compared to 36% of GenXers and 48% of Baby Boomers when they were the same age. Research shows that 40% of 18 to 34 year olds in the US live with parents, step-parents, grandparents and other relatives, compared to 26% in 1990. This marks the highest it has been in 75 years. This means that the 40% living with family has exceeded the 31.6% married or living with a partner in their own household, which marks a tipping point for the first time in modern history. With the delay in the transition to adulthood also comes the delay in having children, which means it is taking longer for parents to become grandparents. This delay is one of main disrupters to traditional family travel. However, research shows that millennials are still following the same overall trend in home ownership, having families, and travel - they are just getting a later start. Millennials value travel, treasure local experiences, are tech savvy, and are more educated than Gen Z and Gen X, and their trajectory is on par to catch up to their predecessors in coming years.