We live in an amazing time. For one thing, we have the freedom to travel to nearly any place in the world. For much of human history, this would have been unthinkable. For another, we can get to places in a day or two that would have been unreachable to our ancestors. Airline flight has changed everything, and the demand for a cheap flight has made traveling on a budget possible. In fact, when it comes to domestic travel, 79% of trips are taken for leisure rather than business. Finally, most of us have jobs where vacation time is built in; a modern notion that many of our ancestors couldn’t have even dreamed of!
Our vacations are important to us. Increasingly, we?re understanding that it is experiences that are valuable: not just material things. In fact, 76% of millennials are likely to value experiences more than material things, and 96% of workers in the United States say that their vacation time is important to them. But why and how are people choosing their vacation destinations?
Choosing With Our Stomachs
A enormous 69% of Millenials cite the local cuisine as a big draw in their decisions about airline flight destinations. A 2016 TopDeck Travel survey found that 98% of them would say that ?eating local cuisine? is very important to them, and 98% told Forbes that when traveling they definitely want to experience local foods.
Choosing Our Friends
Millenials may travel for food, but Baby Boomers travel for different reasons. For 57% of them, their primary reason for a choice of airline flight destinations is visiting with family and friends. Another 39% choose a flight just to get away from everyday life, and 38% are vacating mainly to relax. About half of Baby Boomers report they have no challenges planning trips, but 15% do say that budget travel is of concern to them.
A Picture is Worth a Thousand Words
At least it is if you?re a Millennial. They?re choosing a destination for their airline flight based on pictures their friends and family took a full 42% of the time. Another 18% of them choose their airline deals based on places they?ve seen in movies. Social media is also very important to them: 23% say that it significantly influences where they choose to travel. But cost is really important: 50% of both Millennials and Generation Xers report that cost is a big hurdle in their leisure travel plans. Cheap flights are important to especially important to people of these ages.
Combining Fun and Fun
Increasingly, people are willing to combine a vacation with work. If they?re flying internationally for work, for example, it only makes sense to schedule in some down time to see the sites and relax: to enjoy an experience. A lot of people are also traveling to gamer conventions, as well. Gamesom in Cologne, Germany is the world?s largest, attracting 355,000 people from more than 100 countries in 2017.
When it comes to airline travel, our options are nearly limitless these days. It?s a brave new world: take advantage.
