According to a new study, millennials in the US, the UK, and China would rather get the keys to a hire car on holiday than a new home. They’re also prioritising travel over paying off their debts.
The new study, conducted by Airbnb, reveals just how important travel is to this new generation. Instead of spending money on saving for that first home or settling student loans and other debts, millennials are choosing to spend their money on travelling the world.
(That is, they’re valuing experiences over things, which has been shown to produce a lasting sense of happiness anyway.)
Considering that millennials are the largest generation in history, and will account for 75 percent of all travellers by the time 2025 rolls around, this is fantastic news for the travel industry.
Source: www.airbnbcitizen.com
In the case of China, millennials are also valuing travel over investing and saving, and buying a car. Again great news considering the rapid growth of the Chinese travel market. Indeed, Airbnb have seen a tremendous 356 percent growth in Chinese millennials using its platform in the last year – woah!
“Airbnb is particularly popular among millennial travelers in China, where 83% of all guests who have ever booked on Airbnb are millennials – the highest percentage of any country globally.”
Airbnb and The Rise of Millennial Travel Report.
The same preference for travel over buying a home or paying off a debt has also been shown amongst members of Generation Y in America and the United Kingdom. If the same study was conducted here in Australia, it’s probably safe to say that the results would be the same.
Source: www.airbnbcitizen.com
The research also found that most millennials (over 80 percent) are looking for something new and different on their travels, such as having more authentic travel experiences and living like the locals do – such as staying in an Airbnb-listed property I presume…
Source: www.airbnbcitizen.com
According to Airbnb, about 60 percent of all users to have booked accommodation through Airbnb belong to Generation Y, and they continue to represent a significant and growing segment of its market: in the last year alone, the number of millennials who made a booking through Airbnb has grown by 120 percent.
Airbnb interviewed over 1,000 millennials from the US, UK and China between September and October this year for this study.