generation travel habits

These days, the majority of the population is broken down into three main groups: Baby Boomers (born mid-1940s to mid-1960s), Generation X (born mid-1960s to mid-1980s), and Millennials (born mid-1980s to early 2000s). While there are many still alive from before the Boomers and many being born after the Millennials, we tend to compare the habits of those in the three groups.

When it comes to travel, we find it interesting to compare the habits of younger travelers and older travelers, so we did a little research to find their preferences:

Likely to book travel online:

Baby Boomers – 84%

Generation X – 82%

Millennials – 90%

Tend to plan trips in U.S.:

Baby Boomers – 74%

Generation X – 72%

Millennials – 69%

Tend to plan trips outside U.S.:

Baby Boomers – 27%

Generation X – 18%

Millennials – 38%

Prefer self-service to staff member:

Baby Boomers – 19%

Generation X – 24%

Millennials – 36%

Money spent per day while traveling:

Baby Boomers – $522

Generation X – $627

Millennials – $527

Preferred mode of transportation:

Baby Boomers – 28% car, 31% airplane

Generation X – 39% car, 36% airplane

Millennials – 16% car, 28% airplane

Use travel agents:

Baby Boomers – 13%

Generation X – 15%

Millennials – 28%

Talk about travel on social media:

Baby Boomers – 1%

Generation X – 5%

Millennials – 4%

Business trips per year:

Baby Boomers – 3.6

Generation X – 4.2

Millennials – 4.7

Leisure trips per year:

Baby Boomers – 3.2

Generation X – 2.9

Millennials – 4.2