There’s much speculation about Gen Z and their use of social media. Are they tiring of it? Are they still sharing content? Are they really all that reliant on influencers?
New research from Booking.com reveals that while Canadian Gen Z travellers are visual vacationers and social snappers, their motivations aren’t limited to a 108px frame.
They say a picture is worth a thousand words, and for Gen Z those words must include #travel and #inspo. Almost half of Canadian Gen Z (41%) travellers like to see travel posts and pictures on social media and when it comes to deciding which destinations to visit, this cohort heads straight to their social feeds, with 29% listing it as their top travel inspiration source.
When it comes to selecting new destinations to visit, nearly half (41%) of Gen Z say that they are influenced by social media influencers and 34% say they generally trust influencers when it comes to travel recommendations.
Inspiration for Gen Z isn’t just coming from smartphone screens though, with 27% of Canadian respondents influenced by destinations they see in films and TV shows then wanting to see the locations in person. Travel recommendations still come from their social interactions offline too though, with 34% looking to their friends for intel.
From influencers’ feeds to their own, 35% of Canadian Gen Zers say they’re interested in travelling somewhere that’ll look good in pictures. Four in 10 (42%) Gen Z say that when they travel, they always upload pictures from their trips on social media – more so than any other age demographic (42% v 35% of all travellers).
During their last vacation, 28% of Gen Z took between 10 and 30 pics each day and more than one in four (26%) taking more than 50 pics each day.
Being the first generation who grew up as Digital Natives, it’s no surprise that Gen Z is a generation who do not desire a life unplugged, with 64% valuing WiFi the most during a stay, higher than any other demographic and their top favoured accommodation amenity.
Instagram isn’t their only motivator though. Gen Z is aware of the importance of holiday experiences with nearly half saying they prefer to focus on what is in front of them and enjoy the moment, rather than spending time taking photos for social media, suggesting pics for the feed are a bonus to their trip.
And for this experience focused generation, they’d prefer to live life offline, with 54% saying they believe that too much emphasis is spent on social media when travelling, so while there’s no denying that Gen Z “like” social media, scrolling isn’t going to come between their real life travel experiences any time soon.
