Gen Z picks travel destinations based on hot locals and aesthetic backdrops for selfies, study says
Full Frame Insurance surveyed 1,000 frequent travelers and found that for many, planning a vacation is often all about the visuals — and not just the sandy shores or resplendent resorts.
3 Perhaps unsurprising for the iGeneration, but Gen Z was also the most reliant on photos to determine their travel destinations — and the most often disappointed.
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Almost 3 in 5 Gen Zers surveyed said that they have planned future getaways based on how 'dateable' people in photos are — referring to both locals and other tourists.
Conversely, only 7% of Baby Boomers shared the same sentiment.
35% of men said they have this travel habit, while a scant 21% of women admitted the same.
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3 Overall, 74% of Americans said that locations being photogenic have influenced their travel plans.
WavebreakMediaMicro – stock.adobe.com
3 Gen Z has bizarre criteria for how they choose travel destinations
Rymden – stock.adobe.com
Aside from having good-looking people, the study also pointed out that these young travelers purposely pick vacation destinations that will be aesthetically pleasing for photos.
Some even said they had left a trip early when the photos didn't meet their expectations.
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Almost 60% of Americans said they would choose a more expensive location if it looked impressive in photos.
However, this travel tactic can quickly go south.
Regina Simmons, a resident of Las Vegas, recently found this out the hard way, after she arrived in Positano, expecting a charming Italian seaside town.
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Instead, the place was practically turned upside down by massive crowds of American tourists, according to The Mirror.
'In the videos [on social media], you see everything looks completely empty and calm. In real life, there were far too many people,' Simmons explained.
'It was just bananas… We were overwhelmed by the amount of people,' she said. 'We had to look for a restaurant to hide in and make a game plan.'
'Positano is all these tight little streets and everyone is walking together. Half the people are going up and half are going down. It was complete chaos. Everyone was touching, shoulder to shoulder,' Simmons said.
'If it's trendy on social media, everyone wants to do what everyone else is doing, myself included… Don't believe everything you see on social media,' she said.
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