With 76 million boomers about to pass age 50, the days of prepackaged, slow-moving group tours is gone. Boomers are reimagining travel, and travel is continuing to shape them as they mature. Boomers travel with technology at hand. Many boomers are more time-compressed than their parents were, and are working longer than they had planned. The result: travel happens when they can “plan spontaneously.” That means technology is critical. With nearly a third of travelers in their late 50s and early 60s carrying smartphones, the last-minute getaway is more popular than ever. The travel industry has developed smart, intuitive travel apps that are packed with activities to enjoy while traveling and allow boomers to easily book that last-minute trip. We are literally bringing the world to your fingertips.
Aside from the tactical changes in how they travel, boomers have been shaped by travel at their very core. They have a different approach to the philosophy of travel. While their parents may have taken their first trip to Europe to celebrate retirement, many boomers first visited Europe, South America, or Asia as students. Boomers are explorers. In fact, AARP members are one of the largest segments of the US population with passports. While only 22 percent of the overall US population has a valid passport, that number rises to 60 percent among AARP members. People in their 20s and 30s tend to draw a distinction between everyday travel—New Yorkers driving to Boston to visit their children in college, for example—and aspirational travel: that dream trip to Paris, or hiking with the family across the Galapagos Islands. At Expedia, we know that there’s often little difference between those types of travel. They typically involve the same steps: researching a hotel, booking a flight or a car, scheduling activities, packing. The backdrops differ but the process doesn’t. THE JOURNAL
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