The travel behavior of your guests changes

How do young people travel? What holidays are young adults planning? What about the travel behavior of your over 50s guests? The online travel portal eDreams published the “Travel Through The Generations Report“ and compared the changes to traveler behaviour across different generations. 

Traveling is becoming the norm

We observe it ourselves, in our circle of friends and acquaintances or read statistics about changes in travel behavior: Holiday travel today is much more common than twenty years ago, with international travel becoming the norm for more and more travelers.

There are many reasons for this, ranging from globalization and greater openness to other cultures, to higher incomes and increased wealth. Digitization also heavily influences the travel behavior of your guests, helping them to quickly and easily find information and routes to booking.

We travel young and internationally

In the course of the international study by eDreams, a total of 13,000 people from eight countries were surveyed about their travel behavior – 2,000 each from Germany, the United Kingdom, the USA, Spain and France and 1,000 each from Sweden, Portugal and Italy. These are exactly the kind of guests you would refer to in your accommodation business as regulars or “target audience”.

The report highlighted that international holiday travel takes place earlier and more frequently.

There were clear differences in the travel behavior across the generations:

• Are you more than 50 years old? Then you belong to the so-called “baby boomer“ generation, of which only 15% before they were aged five have traveled abroad.
• Are you currently aged between 18 and 29 years old? Then you are part of the so-called “Millenials” group, and probably experienced international travel much earlier: the report found that 54% of this age group traveled abroad before the age of five.
• Are you aged less than 18 years? Then you belong to “Generation Z”, which is the group that had the earliest international experience: 60% traveled abroad in their first 5 years.

There were also differences when it came to the number of countries visited:

• People over the age of 50 had traveled on average to 3 different countries before they turned 18 years of age.
• This number doubles for the younger generation: for 18-29 year olds, they had already visited 6 different countries before their 18th birthday.
• On average, 18-29 year olds had experienced 4 international holidays before the age of 12.
• In the current youngest generation of under-18s, 25% had already traveled abroad by the age of two.

New demands on your accommodation offer?

Of course, if the target group changes, what you are offering should evolve according to meet the changing needs of travelers and therefore guests.

Think for yourself:

• Do you recognize differences in the behavior, the demands, or the booking routes between older and younger guests?
• Do older travelers prefer different deals than younger ones?
• Do younger people take holidays differently than older people?

With a high degree of probability, you can answer “yes” to one or the other question based on your experience. Have you ever considered what that could mean for your offers?

Mobile first – mobile offers for your guests

According to recent studies by Statista and the Mobile Marketing Association Austria (MMAA) and MindTake Research, around 93% of Austrians use their smartphones to surf the internet for more than 3 hours per day. You know it yourself: we do a lot of things on the go as a matter of course on our mobile phone – from route planning to checking our bank accounts. Purchases are also made more and more on our smartphones, as well as searching for holidays and making bookings. All this means that you should also optimize your accommodation website for mobile use! Why? Quite simple: So that your guests can find everything quickly and clearly – even when they are on the go.

Multilingualism for international guests

Tourism takes place everywhere, in all parts of the world. But think about it – can guests from Sweden, Malta or England find their way around your website? If you expect international guests, you should ensure that they understand what you offer them. An English version of your website is therefore recommended, along with the other main traveler languages where you anticipate attracting guests from.

Photo selection – pictures as an eye-catcher

Images create emotions, and emotions can put us in holiday mood. So why not use the best possible imagery to convince your guests right from the start? Think about what mood you want to trigger with future guests and adjust the imagery to reinforce this mood. Using imagery as a response to changes in travel behavior.

You can also look for imagery that is a bit cheeky or unusual, such as a close-up photo, a picture from an unfamiliar perspective, or with striking lighting. But beware: You must not use just any image that you find online freely as you like! When using third-party images, you must always pay attention to copyright and related rights of use. Our tip: many tourism associations provide free and high quality images (with their permission), contact your local association to find out if they offer this.

Special offers for your guests

Do you want to attract guests from a certain age group? Then invest a little time in researching and adapting your offers to your target group!

Think about how travel behaviour changes from generation to generation. Target different offers for different groups, both in how they are titled and put together, and how they are marketed or promoted to their target audience. Use your existing knowledge of your existing guests, find out about what is happening locally that could appeal to different audiences. Your creativity knows no bounds. Make yourself stand out from your competitors by the detail and difference in your offers, we have more about this for you in our blog post “Why are you better than the others?”.

Direct bookability on your website

Have you attracted and convinced your guests of your offer? Then make it as easy as possible for them to book it as well. This is best done directly through your website. By the way, thanks to JULIA, the virtual receptionist, this is simple: JULIA not only presents your offers in an appealing way on your website, it also makes them bookable online with just a few clicks. JULIA will automatically send offers to guests without you having to lift a finger, and if they book directly, the corresponding confirmation information is sent to your guests. JULIA also helps with multilingualism: in up to 7 different languages, it communicates with your guests with ease! You want to receive further information? Contact us via marketing@easybooking.at – we are looking forward to hearing from you!