Luxury Travel Agencies Are Still Growing – But Watch Out For the Millennials

Luxury travel has been the epitome of an ultimate vacation. The chance of getting a first class flight, booking a 5-star hotel and trying all the premium attractions has been the luxury standard for many tourists.

At present, luxury agencies are still growing. A recent study shows that luxury travel is still considered to outpace the rest of its industry constituents. This is most evident in Eupore and North America, even if it only accounts for 18% of all tourists globally.

The Millennial Travel Lifestyle

However, we see a gradual shift of interest in the new generation. “Millennials were seen to adopt a travel lifestyle where they become backpackers, doing budget trips, and the like,” Douglas Knight New Canaan, a travel expert remarked.

Will this put the luxury travel industry in jeopardy? Although there is some growth that remains and quality is still a factor in traveling, here are some insights that companies should consider when meeting the needs of the new generation.

5 Millennial Travel Trends That Luxury Agencies Should Look Out For

1. Millennials prefer functionality over luxury

With inflation rates continually soaring and people learning to be practical by budgeting even their leisure expenses, millennials now prefer paying for functionality over luxurious features. Whether it’s a flight, hotel, restaurant or a tourist spot, more new-gen travel goers would rather spend money on things that will make them feel satisfied and elegant. This can be seen in the peer-to-peer economy created by Air BnB, and the rise of economy flights.

2. The new generation prefers culture immersion than extravagance

Luxury travel agencies should look out for millennials’ preferences when it comes to travel. “Now, a lot of youngsters would prefer to travel on backpacks and go where to locals go. They don’t care about class or style, all they want to is being immersed in the culture and people of their destination,” says Douglas Knight New Canaan.

As a solution, luxury travel agencies must offer some local tours and attractions where tourists can enjoy both the amenities of their establishment yet still be in touch with the actual culture of the place.

“After all, it’s not about the bragging rights of going to a fabulous tourist spot. The culture of minimalism taught the new generation on what really matters about travel–learning more about the world and gaining a new perspective,” Douglas adds.

3. Millennials are okay with shared spaces to save budget

The previous generation viewed sharing space in travel as a taboo–it invades privacy, ruins the experience, and causes some extent of irritation if you and your sharer won’t get along.

However, we can see that this trend is slowly fading out as the new generation are now enjoying shared things–shared space to sleep in, shared gadgets to use for travel, or even shared mode of transport–all of these things are economical in nature. It saves time, money and energy.

Luxury travel agencies should pay attention to these factors. What are some things they can feature for sharing, with saving money as its selling point? The new generation wants the maximum value for their money.

4. Millennials prefer to travel longer

Thanks to the rising popularity of nomadic lifestyle, the travel industry has received a big boost in the recent years. A lot of millennials would want to travel a certain region, or even cross-continents to see all parts of the world one day at a time. A lot of them would save a substantial amount of money, go on a 2-month trip to visit multiple countries while working on their laptops.

Luxury travel agencies should pay attention to this growing group of people. How can they cater to the needs of these consumers? Perhaps offering a promotion for international brands where they can service a single client in various locations can help.

5. The influence of digital marketing in luxury travel

It is not uncommon to see millennials post their pictures on social media platforms about their recent travel shenanigans. This is why luxury travel agencies should start leveraging the power of social media to promote their business.

Companies can ask travelers to use a hashtag, tag them in photos, or join a mini-contest where they can post the best picture to be featured on the website. The interaction that goes along with these digital marketing methods can increase engagement within targeted consumers, which will eventually gain leads to the luxury travel product or service.

It is undeniable that trends will change as the culture of the new generation emerges. Luxury travel agencies should be aware of what its consumers are interested in, to supply the right product for the demand. Although the luxury travel industry continues to grow, it is interesting to know how these millennial preferences can be integrated into the system in the future.