Tour Guide, Istanbul, Turkey
| 5 mins read
The generation born with high technology was born with a mindset of fast consumption and sustainable life. That leads travel agencies, have been organising trips for decades, to create a backup plan.
To understand the future travel mind, we need to glance at this Gen Z population first.
There are only two examples I would like to put forth.
First was an anonymous comment I came across on youtube: “I like how older generation tells us to get off our phones and learn about the real world, but as soon as we have an opinion on our conservative politicians, social prejudice and falling economy, it doesn’t matter we are young.”
And the other was pointed out by Coney Seemiller: “We can tackle the biggest problems on our society faces if we care less about how people identify and move past problems like; ‘which bathroom should they use?’, the instead focus on issues like ‘How can we conserve water in said bathrooms?’”
These two are total clear summaries of how the next adults will care about. The next generation can be named as social justice fighters, hashtag activists, analytical individualists…
They don’t like to be stuck in just one identity. They want to put less effort and gain more. They are 30% of today's population who will lead us in future.
I don’t believe these people will be interested in 3S based trips (Sea – sun – sand). Of course, selfies or barefoot pictures at the beach beats a summer spent at the office, but I see having a real #traveler hashtag can never be comparable.
We are talking about travellers who know visiting one city is never enough to understand the whole country. Or the same travellers read feedbacks and prefer to experience to make their comments.
As a licensed tour guide, I don’t believe they are interested in booking a tour or participating in a group. Instead, the research part is the beginning of the journey. After all this effort, they like to be individual as they think life is!
* Packing smart doesn’t mean to be boring:
Two days or eight days doesn’t matter; it has always been important to pack light for travelling. However, this is changing. Our luggage has become lighter since the leaders of accessible fashion preferred the sport-chic style for daily outfits. A cool outfit can be comfy as well, but most importantly, should be picturesque.
* Neighter individual nor with the group!
Once they dream for it! When they see the place at their fav music video, they capture the location and decide for the destination! The difference is they don’t only dream it. They do plan! Dreaming probably lasts for couple seconds until they see another picture. But if they adore and wish for it, they start for researches. Calculate and accept the percentage of their plan to be true. Therefore, we cannot expect them to stick with a group and duties after all of this effort. Or if they book a guide by chance, they would wish for a fast, interesting, exciting, and surprising guide.
*Unique and Experimental:
Travel with a partner or friends, or for solo travellers, the people they met on the way can be the highlight of their journey, not only the destination. If the hotel bar has a speciality or the city has a unique feature can be a reason for them to travel. Travel more often.
*No-Go for total-waste hotels:
Yes, we care about sustainable living, but we do care now! But at this age of 13-14, being aware of the damage caused by unsustainable formations is admirable. If the hotel wastes a lot of food, if the travel agency is anti-LGBT, they will be lost at the very beginning of the guide hates animals. For Gen-Z, being “anti-any-religion-doesn’t-matter” is equal to be racist!
How would they know? How wouldn’t they? We prepared the infrastructures of the platforms where everyone can leave feedback. There are media! And if they notice that the hotel's restaurant is serving yesterdays yoghurt in a different form today, they would never hesitate to write about it. Oh, do you think this would be an idea to recycle? But for them, there is no need to produce more than already needed!
* Cash-Free Trips
We have thought to carry cash to bargain best. But for gen z, carrying cash is the beginning of maximising their bag. May be for small amounts fine but if you are a store owner be sure you are friends with banks and pos machines.
* Nish market – The other side of travel:
Travelling and visiting cities' highlights can be the first-day thing to do, but the 90percent of the trip should be completing the traveller's satisfaction. Pleasures would change according to the traveler. Here the fish market fulfils the needings. The alternatives such as food tours, street-art tours, any workshops, modern art tours, outdoor sports, biking routes, and other exciting alternatives should be added to the host travel agency or concierge list.
Sometimes we Gen Y can feel jealous but should be sure that we are ready for the next kind of travel!