From The Seattle Times: Millennials wish they could be more like the people they present themselves to be on social media. At least, one-third of millennials who travel feel that way, according to a study on the generation’s travel habits from Expedia and the Future Foundation.
Expedia reports that 32 percent of millennials surveyed, and 40 percent of those who travel internationally at least once a year, said that they present an, ahem, idealized version of themselves online. And they want to be more like it in real life.
The generation’s travelers also want friends to take note of their spectacular travel photos. In the United States, 46 percent of millennial respondents said it’s important to them that people comment on the trip photos they post on social media. Just 20 percent of people from other generations said they felt the same way.
“This is not to say that millennials are so superficial that the future of travel is one big generation making decisions based on what’s the most Instagrammable,” Expedia notes in its study. “Social validation and integration are ultimately universal human needs. …” The digitally savvy generation is just more likely to seek these out online.
The study also found that millennials are more likely to travel with someone who isn’t their partner or child. The largest share of millennials, 61 percent of those surveyed, said that the last time they traveled it was by themselves, with friends or parents or someone else who was not their partner or kids.
The report surveyed 1,000 people in each of eight countries: the U.S., U.K., Germany, Australia, South Korea, France, Brazil and China.
DCG