Online agencies are dominating the tourism of people under 30 years old, young people and students.
WYSE Travel Confederation, the federation of operators and industry associations, has interviewed over 57 thousand young people from all over the world, discovering that this age group has booked about 40% of flights and 47% of accommodation via online travel agencies. In general, they have used them for 80% of their trips.
Most of the young people use Expedia, STA Travel, Skyscanner and StudentUniverse, while Booking.com is the first room-only option. It is followed by Hostelworld, Airbnb and Expedia again.
The data comes from the New Horizons IV survey from WYSE, which shows that youth touris, the under-30 market, is responsible for 23% of global arrivals in 2017 worldwide. In absolute number it is 304 million trips for a total value of 280 billion US dollars. And in this range the average duration of the main journey of the year is 52 years.
WYSE discovered that in general young people made 80% of bookings online for their travels in 2017. A major increase in mobile booking and through social media – especially for tours and surface trips – was registered. But most of them were still completed again on a computer.
In the lead for booking tours, attractions and activities there are GetYourGuide, TourRadar and Viator. For surface transport thera are GoEuro, CheckMyBus and Wanderu.
As for travel agencies, the youth tourism sector buys about 22% of air transport, 15% of surface transport, over 20% of travel insurance, 19% of tours and no more than 13% of overnight stays through them.
The interesting news is that the Generation Z young people born after 1995, tend to use online agencies less than the Generation Y, or the Millennials.
STAY AWAY - I live in Tokyo and booked in March an air fare with Student Universe for my companion to join me from London. The booking was was for late October 2019. The situation changed and my companion will not be able to take this flight. Despite this being a full seven months away Student Universe will not refund one penny or provide any form of credit note. With so many options available you would be much better off learning from my mistake. Fly safe.