Gen Z lose the travel bug as cost pressures take over

11 July 2024
  • A quarter (25%) of Gen Z consumers aren’t planning to take a holiday in the next three months, up from 18% last year; and
  • overseas travel has taken the biggest hit, with only 26% of Gen Z respondents planning to take a long-stay overseas holiday, a sharp drop from 40% last year.

Cost pressures derail Gen Z travel plans as more are planning to cut back on holidays, particularly overseas trips, in the next three months, RSM UK’s latest Consumer Markets Outlook reveals.

RSM UK’s survey of 2,000 consumers found a quarter (25%) of Gen Z respondents do not plan to take a holiday over the next three months, up from 18% last year. Travel intentions are down across the board, with 35% of all consumers not planning to take a holiday, compared to 32% last year.

The cutbacks in travel are most stark among Gen Z and long stay overseas breaks (lasting five days or more), with only 26% of Gen Z respondents planning to take a trip of this kind, a significant decrease from 40% last year.

This trend also applies to short stay overseas breaks (lasting 1-4 days), which dropped from 33% last year to 22% this year for Gen Z, and from 20% to 15% for all consumers.

Travel plans are taking the hit of acute cost pressures, with almost a third (29%) of Gen Z stating that they don’t have any monthly income left after paying for essentials, and almost a quarter (22%) saying they only have up to 20% left at the end of the month – demonstrating the real squeeze on finances.

However, more positively, UK travel intentions increased from 12% to 15% across Gen Z consumers, suggesting the UK staycations market could see an uptick in demand this summer.

Robyn Duffy, consumer markets senior analyst at RSM UK, comments: 'Our findings suggest the post-Covid travel bubble has burst, with Gen Z consumers in particular, losing the travel bug. Despite economic pressures easing, this has yet to filter through to consumers feeling better off and we’re seeing this play out in their travel intentions. Gen Z often tend to be in the lower income brackets than other generations, and are therefore more exposed to crippling rents, challenges with getting their foot on the property ladder and high interest rates.'

Chris Tate, head of hotels, travel and tourism at RSM UK, added: 'For those feeling the squeeze, travel can be costly and therefore an easy area to cut back on. This is particularly true for holidays abroad, with expensive flights even for short overseas breaks, pushing up prices. This could be encouraging for the UK staycation market which appears more stable and less impacted by dwindling travel intentions; but, as always this will be highly dependent on whether the sun shines on the UK summer.'

Robyn Duffy
Robyn Duffy
Consumer Markets, Senior Analyst
Chris Tate
Chris Tate
Partner, Head of Hotels, travel and tourism
Robyn Duffy
Robyn Duffy
Consumer Markets, Senior Analyst
Chris Tate
Chris Tate
Partner, Head of Hotels, travel and tourism