ABTA is dubbing Gen Z Generation T after the associations Four Trends for 24 revealed that almost three-quarters of 18-24-year-olds plan to take a holiday in the next 12 months: the highest percentage of any age group.
The rise of 'Generation T' (18-to-24-year-olds) is already well underway: the age bracket took more overseas holidays in the past year (2.7 on average) than consumers as a whole (1.4 on average) and the same age bracket during the year previous (2.2 on average).
Revealing the insight at ABTA's Travel Trends Conference, Graeme Buck, the association's director of communications, said: "This is a generation that has a very strong propensity to travel, with a far bigger gap in demand between them and other generations that we've seen previously.
"That doesn’t mean lots of quick breaks either. Generation T has been taking a much higher number of holidays for seven days or more than any other age group. So, while this group has a keen eye on cost, they continue to be a highly attractive market for many in the travel industry."
This is no small fry of the potential market: while 64% of consumers overall said they plan to take a holiday in the next year, 72% of Generation T did.
Graeme continued: "They have different focuses and interests in the kind of travel they want," and the stats back that up: while Spain, France, and Italy comprise the top three travel destinations for all consumers and Gen T last year, the rest of the top 10 destinations visited deviate against that of your average client.
Turkey creeps into Gen T's top four, followed by Australia – which doesn't appear in the general consumer's top 10 for this year at all. Mexico takes the ninth spot: another absentee from all consumers' top 10 list.
The discrepancy is expected to continue into next year, too: Italy, France, USA and Spain are expected to top the Gen T bucket list (along with that of the wider consumer base), with China and Ireland making their mark in the top 10, too.
ABTA's Travel Trends Conference took place in London on November 29th, 2023.
