Millennials, Generation Z and the Future of Tourism

Millennials, Generation Z

and the Future

of Tourism

THE FUTURE OF TOURISM

Series Editors: Ian Yeoman, Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand and Una McMahon-Beattie, Ulster University, Northern Ireland, UK

Some would say that the only certainties are birth and death; everything else that happens in between is uncertain. Uncertainty stems from risk, a lack of understanding or a lack of familiarity. Whether it is political instability, autonomous transport, hypersonic travel or peak oil, the future of tourism is full of uncertainty but it can be explained or imagined through trend analysis, economic forecasting or scenario planning.

This new book series, The Future of Tourism, sets out to address the challenges and unexplained futures of tourism, events and hospitality. By addressing the big questions of change, examining new theories and frameworks or critical issues pertaining to research or industry, the series will stretch your understanding and generate dialogue about the future. By adopting a multidisciplinary perspective, be it through science fiction or computer-generated equilibrium modelling of tourism economies, the series will explain and structure the future – to help researchers, managers and students understand how futures could occur. The series welcomes proposals on emerging trends and critical issues across the tourism industry and research. All proposals must emphasise the future and be embedded in research.

All books in this series are externally peer-reviewed.

Full details of all the books in this series and of all our other publications can be found on http://www.channelviewpublications.com, or by writing to Channel View Publications, St Nicholas House, 31-34 High Street, Bristol BS1 2AW, UK.

THE FUTURE OF TOURISM: 7

Millennials,

Generation Z and

the Future of Tourism

Fabio Corbisiero,

Salvatore Monaco and

Elisabetta Ruspini

CHANNEL VIEW PUBLICATIONS

Bristol • Jackson

DOI https://doi.org/10.21832/CORBIS7611

Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data

A catalog record for this book is available from the Library of Congress.

Names: Corbisiero, Fabio, author. | Monaco, Salvatore, author. | Ruspini, Elisabetta, author.

Title: Millennials, Generation Z and the Future of Tourism/Fabio Corbisiero, Salvatore Monaco, and Elisabetta Ruspini.

Description: Jackson, TN: Channel View Publications, [2022] | Series: The Future of Tourism: 7 | Includes bibliographical references and index. | Summary: This book examines the lifestyles, expectations and plans of Millennials and Generation Z and how they are redefining tourism. It explores the present and future challenges faced by the tourism industry as a result of the generational turnover and the role a generational perspective can play in helping the industry recover from the COVID-19 crisis—Provided by publisher.

Identifiers: LCCN 2021060701 (print) | LCCN 2021060702 (ebook) | ISBN 9781845417611 (Hardback) | ISBN 9781845417604 (Paperback) | ISBN 9781845417628 (PDF) | ISBN 9781845417635 (ePub)

Subjects: LCSH: Tourism—Social aspects. | Hospitality industry—Social aspects. | Leisure industry—Social aspects. | Generation Y—Attitudes. | Generation Z—Attitudes. | Popular culture—Social aspects.

Classification: LCC G156.5.S63 C67 2022 (print) | LCC G156.5.S63 (ebook) | DDC 306.4/819—dc23/eng20220311

LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2021060701

LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2021060702

British Librar1y Cataloguing in Publication Data

A catalogue entry for this book is available from the British Library.

ISBN-13: 978-1-84541-761-1 (hbk)

ISBN-13: 978-1-84541-760-4 (pbk)

Channel View Publications

UK: St Nicholas House, 31-34 High Street, Bristol, BS1 2AW, UK.

USA: Ingram, Jackson, TN, USA.

Website: www.channelviewpublications.com

Twitter: Channel_View

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/channelviewpublications

Blog: www.channelviewpublications.wordpress.com

Copyright © 2022 Fabio Corbisiero, Salvatore Monaco and Elisabetta Ruspini.

All rights reserved. No part of this work may be reproduced in any form or by any means without permission in writing from the publisher.

The policy of Multilingual Matters/Channel View Publications is to use papers that are natural, renewable and recyclable products, made from wood grown in sustainable forests. In the manufacturing process of our books, and to further support our policy, preference is given to printers that have FSC and PEFC Chain of Custody certification. The FSC and/or PEFC logos will appear on those books where full certification has been granted to the printer concerned.

Typeset by Deanta Global Publishing Services, Chennai, India.

Contents

Introduction: Tourism at the Crossroads: Between Past, Present and Future

Fabio Corbisiero, Salvatore Monaco and Elisabetta Ruspini

Part 1: On the Go with the New Generations

1 Generations, Events, Experiences, Tourism

Elisabetta Ruspini

Introduction

Generational Theories

Karl Mannheim’s work

Recent theories

Generations and Tourism Preferences

Conclusion

2 Capturing the Future Traveller

Salvatore Monaco

Introduction

Being Young Today: A Social Identikit

Main Consumer Choices of New Generations

The Role of Social Media and Influencers

Tourist Choices and Instagrammability

In Search of Sustainability

Conclusion

Part 2: Technologies and the Sharing Economy in Tourism

3 NetGen and Tourism

Fabio Corbisiero

Introduction

Technological Advances in Tourism

The Hyper-Connected Generations

Conclusion

4 Towards a Sharing Generation

Salvatore Monaco

Introduction

Sharing Car and Home

Sharing to Save

The Sustainable Approach to Consumption

Tourism as a Life Experience

The Shadows of Sharing

Conclusion

Part 3: Generations, Gender and LGBT Issues in Tourism

5 Gender, Generations, Tourism

Elisabetta Ruspini

Introduction

The Past

Towards the Present

Between Present and Future: Millennials and GenZers

Past, Present, Visions of the Future

6 LGBTQ+ and Next-Gen Tourism

Fabio Corbisiero

Introduction

From Grand Tour to the Present: The Rainbow Travel

What Kind of Travellers are LGBTQ+ People?

The Generation Lens to Observe LGBTQ+ Tourism

Conclusion

Conclusion: Understanding the Present to Prepare for the Future (of Tourism)

Fabio Corbisiero, Salvatore Monaco and Elisabetta Ruspini

References

Index

Introduction

Tourism at the Crossroads: Between Past, Present and Future

Fabio Corbisiero, Salvatore Monaco and Elisabetta Ruspini

The book aims to highlight the present and future challenges posed by the generational turnover to tourism. The concept of generation is one of the most important sociological lens to interpret social change (Ariès, 1979), a key concept to understand the tension between continuity and social transformations, between past, present and future. As Karl Mannheim (1928) suggests, a generational location limits and predisposes individuals to specific behaviours and feelings. People born at the same time are similarly exposed to primary and secondary socialisation and grow up under the influence of the same historical events. Each generation develops unique needs, expectations, forms of sociality, cultural and communicative practices and consumption choices. In this sense, each generation is different from the previous and subsequent ones due to its own peculiar characteristics, values and visions of life. Studies of social change (economic, political and cultural transformations, scientific and technological advances, value transmission, social mobility, family choices, employment trends, lifestyles) must all cope with generational peculiarities and relations (Kertzer, 1983). The relationship between tourism and generations is also dynamic and, as such, should be carefully considered and monitored. As Yeoman and McMahon-Beattie (2020) argue, the current and potential future existence of the tourism industry is influenced by the link between past and present. Thus, in order to ensure a strong, inclusive and sustainable future for tourism, the tourism industry should pay specific attention to the generational turnover and to the peculiarities of the younger generations. Tourism literature studies that use a generational perspective are still limited: in recent years, however, there has been growing attention on generational analysis, emphasising significant differences in tourist behaviours among generations.

In light of the above, the goal of this book is to focus on lifestyles, expectations and plans of the younger generations (from the millennial generation onwards) and how these generational groups are redefining and will redefine tourism. Putting younger travellers at the centre of the scientific reflection seems a useful approach not only for identifying current tourist trends, but also for capturing the most significant peculiarities that will shape the future of tourism, whatever it will be. Young people link both past, present and future and anticipate social trends. On the one hand, they inherit values and habits from previous generations. On the other hand, their culture differs from the culture of older generations and they have the power to shape the world of tomorrow. One of the main ideas behind our reasoning is precisely that an understanding of generational shifts in tourist behaviour can help the identification of future tourism trends (Corbisiero & Ruspini, 2018). This idea is in line with the theoretical assumptions of the sociology of the future, where prediction can be accomplished by extending and amplifying present trends (e.g. Bell, 2009; Jacobsen & Tester, 2012; Wagar, 1983). Tourism forecasting is a key tool to identify future trends and to test possible tourism scenarios that may affect the tourism industry at a national or global level, involving multiple stakeholders and tourism professionals. Notwithstanding this, thinking about the future of tourism has been under researched (Yeoman, 2008, 2012).

A number of questions are addressed by the chapters contained in this book: How is generational turnover affecting tourism choices? What is the role of new technologies and social networks in the tourist experience? What are the challenges for tourism in the near future? Can we identify them, using a generational perspective? Can a generational perspective be useful to help the tourism industry recover from the Covid-19 crisis? The generations of travellers considered are mainly millennials and Generation Zers. However, the very young members of Generation Alpha are also taken into account.

From a theoretical point of view, we will refer to different generational theories inspired by Mannheim’s seminal work, such as the one proposed by Neil Howe and William Strauss (1991), who have long studied generational dynamics and generational change. The two authors identify different generations in the history of the US, attributing specific characteristics to each of them. We know that no clear dividing line separates one generation from another. However, Strauss and Howe’s analytical categories are a useful tool for understanding values, desires and forms of consumption that are common to people who are born and live in the same period of time. The millennial generation (currently the youngest adult generation, women and men whose birth years roughly range from 1982 to the late 1990s) has been defined as one that is diverse, technological, connected and open to change (Benckendorff et al., 2010; Howe & Strauss, 2008; Taylor & Keeter, 2010; Rainer & Rainer, 2011). Millennials are one of the most culturally and ethnically diverse generations in history. They are IT literate (they grew up with 2.0 web technologies) and open to new family arrangements and gender equality. Millennials are also closely interconnected with their families and friends. Compared with their elders today, millennials are much less likely to affiliate with any religious tradition. Because the economic and financial crisis of the last years has deeply affected this generation and its lifestyle, millennials are increasingly price-sensitive and attentive to shared-economy activities: they are concerned about economic sustainability and sustainable development (Ranzini et al., 2015; Bernardi & Ruspini, 2018; Deloitte, 2021). In regard to tourism, millennials are a lot more willing to spend money on experiences that enhance their lives than on material things. Following the study on ‘Tourism Megatrends’ by Horwath HTL (2015), this rapidly growing segment is expected to represent 50% of all travellers by 2025. Generation Z is a common name for the group of people born roughly from the end of the 1990s through the early 2010s, a span of 15–20 years in the very late 20th and very early 21st centuries. Gen Z members are digital natives: they have grown up in an era of mobile devices and smartphones and have been raised in a world of social websites. They are multitaskers and prefer media that are simple to use and interactive as opposed to ‘passive’ TV. Technology has given these young people an unprecedented degree of connectivity among themselves and with the rest of the population. This generation is entrepreneurial, innovative and concerned with effecting social change (Seemiller & Grace, 2016). Gen Z members have global values and are environmentally conscious consumers (Deloitte, 2021). Gen Zers like a more diverse range of holidays compared to previous generations, expect to access and evaluate a broad range of information before purchasing (Wood, 2013) and give great importance to experiential tourism. Generation Alpha children were born between 2010 and 2015. Also known as the ‘children of millennials’, they are the first generation entirely born within the 21st century. This generation is considered by many to be the more tech-savvy generation to date. Thus, one key question is how emerging technologies, such as artificial intelligence (AI), will impact their behaviours, choices and lifestyles.

The book is divided into three parts.

Part 1: On the Go with the New Generations includes two chapters aimed at offering a general overview of the importance of applying a generational approach to the study of tourism and defining the profile of young world travellers. This first section of the book discusses, on the one hand, the value of the concept of social generations for tourism studies and provides readers with the theoretical tools to understand the generational approach. On the other hand, it offers an identikit of today’s travellers, paying attention not only to differences among generational groups, but also between the same generations on a territorial basis. Borrowing from both Mannheim’s work and other prominent theories of generations, Chapter 1: Generations, Events, Experiences, Tourism, clarifies what a generational theory is. It also deepens the relationship between generations and tourism choices, exploring current applications of the generational concept in tourism. Specific attention is paid to the examination of the main features of millennials and Gen Z members, underlying the centrality of these social groups for tourism studies. ­Chapter 2: Capturing the Future Traveller, is aimed at defining the profile of millennials and Generation Z members as both consumers and travellers, starting from relevant studies that have been conducted both locally and globally. Specific attention is devoted to the relationship between millennials/Gen Zers, tourism and social networks, with particular reference to social networks based on images, such as Instagram. The online collaborative consumption platforms are generating a series of new practices that give new meaning to the travel experience.

Technology drives the second part of the book: Technologies and the Sharing Economy in Tourism. Chapter 3: NetGen and Tourism, points out the advent of new technologies and its tie with millennials and Gen Zers. Technology has generated a series of mutations in the dynamics and structure of production and consumption at both global and local levels and this impacts on tourism choices and needs. The chapter first highlights the differences in the use of digital technologies between millennials and other generations (baby boomers, Gen Zers, etc.). It then discusses how digital technologies have influenced the travel behaviour of millennials and other generations, a very relevant issue for the travel and tourism industry to implement a successful marketing strategy. A meta-analysis approach is used, taking different studies into account that focuses on tourism and marketing concepts in the era of information technology. How is technology changing and influencing the link between tourism and the new generations? How do digital technologies impact young tourists’ consumption experiences? Chapter 4: Towards a Sharing Generation, discusses the link between tourism, generations and a new form of reciprocity made possible by the use of sharing platforms. The sharing economy has emerged in response to the economic crisis of 2008–2011 and has many relationships with the tourism sector (European Parliament, 2015; Finger et al., 2017). Technologies and the use of online collaborative consumption platforms are accentuating and consolidating a (post)modern version of reciprocity, an economic model no longer centred around ownership but on the sharing of things, less based on the purchase of goods and services and more on their use (Smith, 2016). In particular, several studies (e.g. Barbosa & Fonseca, 2019; Deloitte, 2015; Fondevila-Gascón et al., 2019; Ianole-Calin et al., 2020) have highlighted how the younger generations are implementing new forms of consumption, defined in the literature as ‘collaborative’. The chapter critically analyses the most common sharing practices that characterise the tourism sector, such as sharing means of transport, holiday home exchange, couchsurfing and team purchase.

Part 3: Generations, Gender and LGBTQ+ Issues in Tourism includes the last two chapters, designed with the aim of highlighting forms of social exclusion in the tourism sector (gender inequalities and discriminations linked to sexual orientation) and understanding how the new generations are facing these challenges. Chapter 5: Gender, Generations, Tourism, incorporates a gender perspective into the generational analysis. The chapter first offers a brief overview of the history of women’s travel and constraints on women’s access to leisure. It then analyses some of the peculiarities of millennial and Gen Z travellers, addressing the changes in gender roles and values. It then discusses how the outbreak of the coronavirus disease (Covid-19) may reverse positive trends connected to the increasing women’s participation in leisure and tourism. The unknown evolution of the pandemic and the impact of the resulting restrictions imposed to fight the spread of the disease present unprecedented challenges to both the tourism sector and gender equality (UN, 2020a, 2020b; UNWTO, 2020a, 2020b). The focus of Chapter 6: LGBTQ+ and Next-Gen Tourism is on tourism practiced by gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender and queer people. Even though the study of LGBTQ+ generations in the tourism market is fairly recent, it represents a key issue in the late-modern development of tourism research, strongly linked to the generational turnover. The rate of LGBT+ identification is indeed increasing among the younger generations (GenForward, 2018). The tourism industry is now called upon to focus on this burgeoning segment (Hughes, 2006): today, the key to success is not mere mass-­marketing but rather a strong ‘niche position’ that offers something singular to a particular set of consumers. This chapter also focuses on the relationship between gender, sexual orientation and tourism, discussing ‘rainbow turistification’ (Corbisiero, 2014). The chapter concludes by saying that when progress is made towards equal rights (e.g. the introduction of same-sex marriage), destinations benefit from a boost to their brand, and increased arrivals and spending associated with wedding ceremonies, receptions and honeymoons.

The concluding chapter summarises the main issues faced in the book and highlights the need to consider climate change, global warming and environmental concerns, along with the Covid-19 pandemic, in order to gain new insights into the future of tourism from a generational lens.

Part 1

On the Go with the New Generations

1 Generations, Events, Experiences, Tourism

Elisabetta Ruspini

Introduction

This introductory chapter offers a theoretical reflection on the usefulness of applying a generational approach to the study of tourism. The notion of generation is one of the most important sociological concepts to describe both the nature of the mutual relation between individual and society (Alwin & McCammon, 2007) and to explain social change. Generation is a measure of historical time. The term ‘generation’ refers to a group with a common and distinctive identity shaped by experience, and the stratification of this experience, through time. Generation has been defined (Gilleard, 2004) as a temporally located ‘cultural field’ emerging at a particular moment in history within which individuals from a potential variety of overlapping birth cohorts participate as generational agents. Exposure to key historical events that took place during each cohort’s transition to adulthood provides the markers for each generational field (Gilleard, 2004: 112, 114). Thus, generation covers a wide range of cohorts. Generational theory emanates from Karl Mannheim’s (1928, 1952) fundamental work on generations, identity and knowledge, which suggests that cultural differences between generations come from significant (social, economic or political) events which have occurred during formative years, from being exposed to analogous primary and secondary socialisation processes, and from the interchange between young people and society’s accumulated cultural heritage. The formative experiences of each generation influence its members’ lifelong beliefs, values and behaviour: each generation has peculiar characteristics, needs and expectations, unique to that generational group.

In the tourism literature, there are still limited studies of generational change. However, recent years have witnessed an increasing interest in generational analysis in tourism studies, highlighting differences in tourist behaviours among generations (Beldona et al., 2009; Benckendorff et al., 2010; Chiang et al., 2014; Corbisiero, 2020; Corbisiero & Ruspini, 2018; Haydam et al., 2017; Huang & Lu, 2017; Li et al., 2013; Pennington-Gray et al., 2002; Southan, 2017). Those and other studies have shown that knowledge gained through the lens of generational theory can provide useful theoretical insight and practical implications for tourism scholars and practitioners (Pendergast, 2010). Research has not only shown the value of generational analysis in tourism research, but has also concluded that a greater use of generational analysis is needed to examine changes in travel behaviour (Gardiner et al., 2014; Li et al., 2013; Oppermann, 1995). Moreover, as written by Hansen and Leuty (2012: 34), organisations today are faced with the challenges of integrating different generations in the workplace as well as the complexity of creating environments to attract and satisfy workers of each generation.

In light of the above, borrowing from both Mannheim’s seminal work and other prominent theories of generations, this chapter explains what a generational theory is. It then discusses the relationship between generations and tourism choices, investigating contemporary applications of the generational concept in tourism. Specific attention is devoted to the