Millennials least likely to travel alone

young stylish friends using digital devices while standing near brick wall
By laurencroft


Looking for a buddy to travel with? Find a millennial.

Why? Because new data suggests they would rather travel with someone than alone. So you’re in luck, lonely traveller – millennials don’t want to be lonely whilst travelling either.

To start with, millennials are way more sociable than older business travellers, obviously. But they’re also more concerned about their personal safety, according to data released today from the CWT Connected Traveler Study.

The study is a multi-generational survey of more than 1,900 travelers from 16 countries – so it’s gotta be pretty spot on.

According to it, almost 60 per cent of millennials travel with others, 43 per cent travel with colleagues, and 15 per cent with friends or family.

And baby boomers are the complete opposite – nearly three-quarters of baby boomers travel alone.

23 per cent of the time, they travel with colleagues – but they rarely bring along friends or family.

Generation X travellers are somewhere in the middle, with 58 per cent travelling alone, 31 per cent with a colleague and 11 per cent with friends or family.

“We see a massive generational shift among the habits of younger travelers – the much-vaunted millennials,” said Julian Walker, Carlson Wagonlit Travel’s Head of External Communications.

“Millennials are far more sociable when they travel, love technology and are most concerned about their own personal safety.”

The study found that millennials (between the ages of 24 and 34 if you had no idea what was happening) are most likely to cancel a trip over security concerns.

Nearly one-third (29 per cent) of millennials have done so, compared to only 20 per cent of generation X (ages 35-51) and only 12 per cent of baby boomers.

And almost half of millennials buy trip insurance, compared with just 36 per cent of generation X and 31 per cent of boomers (ages 52-65).

Nearly half of millennials contact friends or family while traveling more than once per day, compared to 38 per cent of generation X and 29 per cent of baby boomers (rude, mum).

The use of technology also varies dramatically between generations.

When it comes to connecting with family, over half of baby boomers prefer to use their phones, compared to barely half of generation X (44 per cent) and only 39 per cent of millennials.

Basically, millennials tend to be smarter and safer travellers – and that’s A-OK with us.

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