Jeremy Jauncey highlights millennial, Gen Zs travelers

MANILA — Beautiful Destinations founder and CEO Jeremy Jauncey highlighted the importance of millennials (those born between the ’80s and mid ’90s) and Gen Zs (those born from the late ’90s to early 2010s) not only in the recovery but also in the future of the travel industry.

Speaking at the World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC) global summit in Manila on Friday, Jauncey noted that the two age groups are the largest travel segments in the world, and tourism players should be able to “meet them where they are today.”

“[They will provide] decades and decades of future growth for our industry, not just the recovery today. We know this segment is the most likely to spend on travel, this is the segment most likely to repeatedly travel within the year,” he said.

“We know this is the segment that is most likely to share their experience with friends and family. We know that this is the segment for the last two years have been traveling digitally at home in their smartphones,” he added.

Jauncey, a millennial himself, went on to share his insights on how to effectively tap the younger generation and spur tourism growth. His creative agency Beautiful Destinations has captured an audience of over 14 million millennial and Gen Z users who “turn to us every single day to be inspired about where to travel.”

He said allotting more resources for digital content and social media engagement is a good start. 

“The reality is that today we live in a world where over 65% of millennial and Gen Z users believe that digital identity is more important than their physical one, where over 90% of these consumers will book travel based on content that they see on Instagram. When we think about our future where digital is at the center of the travel decision-making process, we have to change the way we think about how we talk to these consumers,” Jauncey explained. 

“Are you still running that age-old marketing adage that 80% of your marketing budget should go toward paid advertising, and only 20% should go toward content? Because if you are, you are dramatically underprepared for this next generation of travelers. They are spending hours consuming travel content before they make their purchasing decision,” he added.

Jauncey also spoke of the idea of creating travel experiences through gaming, citing its “exponential” growth.

“There are 3.2 billion gamers in the world growing at an exponential rate. Consumers who deeply value their digital identity, who spend meaningful resources, time, and energy in digital worlds. So why, as an industry, should we not meet them there? Should the first entry point to our destination not be a digital experience?” he said.

“Of course I’m not suggesting for a second that we should think about replacing real-world travel, but could we talk to our consumers in a new way? Can we engage them and meet them where they are today?” he asked.

EXPERIENCE, DESIGN

Aside from maximizing the strength of digital tools, Jauncey also advised tourism players to be more mindful of the experience and design of their properties and services, saying these play an important role in attracting millennial and Gen Z travelers.

This as younger generations are not just spending more time planning for their trip digitally, but are also more inclined to document their travels and share them with others.

“Think about the cabins on your cruise lines, the rooms in your hotels, the attractions in your destinations. Are you building these attractions through the lens of today’s travel consumer?” he said. 

“So you’re thinking from end to end — how does my attraction, how does my room, how does my experience look and feel at different times of the day? Am I creating those unique vantage points on sunset and sunrise to allow my consumers to do the thing they want to do when they travel — to capture that moment and share with friends and family?” he added.

Meanwhile, Jauncey also mentioned how governments also play an important role in tapping millennial and Gen Z tourists through policy. 

As an example, he pointed out how restrictions on use of gadgets and filming can discourage young travelers. 

“Are we making it very clear for our teams at airports and frontline security the policies that we write, that we understand the behavior of the average travel consumer? Because the average millennial and Gen Zs travel with between 4 and 5 devices — smartphones, DSLR cameras, GoPros, drones. These are no longer just the tools of professional shooting teams; these are the everyday travelers signaling to us that they want to come to our destinations,” he said.

“They want to show what that experience is like, and it’s difficult to come through the airport when it’s not clear from a governmental standpoint what your policy is on how to get filming permits. You need to make them aware on how and when to shoot because you make it harder to embrace those travelers.”