Today’s Millennial generation loves traveling and, most people also do love traveling and learning new experiences, local culture, and vibrant traditions.
Business traveling has been changed ever since the emergence of the Internet and millennial business travelers are the ones changing and carving the new face of the travel industry in today’s world.
Since I am a millennial and love traveling and earning money at the same time. I would love it if you check out my blogs on business traveling in India. So to cut things short, here it goes:
In the current scenario, business travel has changed the way it looked and isn’t what it was ten years ago. Technology has played a very important role in today’s travel industry. Business Travelers have been the most technologically savvy, socially driven, shared economy smart travelers that have emerged over the past decade and are demanding more bang for their working buck.
Modern business travelers are of all age ranges but one of the largest segment in today’s world are millennial business travelers. Millennials are the first generation of true digital natives — Millennials meaning people who were born soon after the advent of smartphones, laptops, or the Internet, many who can’t even remember a world without it.
They can travel anywhere in the world with so many travel apps available today, and no longer limited to the places they have earlier traveled or the language they already know. A modern corporate traveler in today’s Z-generation is truly a global citizen of the world.
They are often viewed “as the ‘best’ at being ‘tech-savvy’ and ‘social media opportunists who leverage social media beyond marketing’.” Other strong points of Millennials from a survey report were adaptability, entrepreneurship, collaboration, and they’re brand ambassadors.
Millennials are the first generation to have their entire lives deeply influenced by digital technology. It’s perhaps the generation’s most defining feature: They’re “digital natives”, having been living in a connected world filled with smartphones and laptops ever since they were born. And when it comes to travel specifically, digital technology plays a huge role.
Business travel is greater today than ever before and, Millennials are driving the future of business travel evolving a new type of business traveler in the modern world. Millennials like to travel for work because it breaks the routine of a regular 9-to-5 job.
When millennials are traveling, the company communicates and shares projects via the likes of Dropbox, Google Drive, Zoom, Skype, and Slack, where there’s no reason for them to be disconnected at any time. Time management is at the heart of every millennial. With calendars synced via the cloud and the ability to automate email or even in some instances social media, there are no excuses for not making the most of the time away.
Technology also helps blur the line between business and leisure, often termed as “Bleisure Travel”. It has caused a shift in mindset among the Millennials generation where the travel currency is shifted from things to experiences. It is the core of what most Millennials believe in.
As a Millennial myself, I can say that whenever I travel for business or leisure, I try to make the most of my trip. Whether that’s spending an extra 2 days in Mumbai after client meetings or making a short trip to Goa while in Maharashtra for business; Trust me, it doesn’t matter to millennials. It’s about making the most of the trip and experience itself. Younger business travelers want to explore more and when they go on a business trip, the chances are they’ll likely want to extend it.
Despite being the online generation and having the technology available at their fingertips, Millennials do prefer face-to-face meetings to get business done. If they get the opportunity to travel for a meeting (even if it’s just going on a train to the next city), they would still prefer that rather than calling the office via a technological device. Technology acts as a complementary thing to business travel but not necessarily as a replacement.
Valuing experiences over things is one step in the Millennial direction. While there are many options or apps for business travel booking, Millennials have their preferred method, and it’s generally the same as the one they use for a personal trip. It’s all about finding the best value, so it’s a win-win for the company and the employee. In the vast majority of cases, millennial business travel is researched on mobile, and both flights and accommodations are booked on mobile.
Millennials do their research to see what people are saying about accommodation and restaurants and love to use price comparison websites more and look for ‘experiences’ over luxury due to the fact of immersing themselves in local and vibrant culture for the duration of their casual business trip. High value is placed on experiences, millennials are reluctant to waste time and money going somewhere that won’t live up to expectation until and unless your company wants you to go there.
Social media and peer review sites like Expedia and Trip Advisor are key for younger travelers basing their trips on reviews and recommendations. The most important among these millennial travel trends is the fact that they’re driving demand for mobile capabilities.
CONCLUSION:
The unique expectations and habits of the millennial generation will shape the travel industry in the future. It will be very exciting to see how the travel industry embraces technology and innovative thinking to serve them in the future. Millennial travel is driven by the idea that trips taken for either business or leisure-or both-should be based on the preference of the traveler.
Delivering satisfaction and driving new valuable experiences is at the mind of every Millennial business traveler. One study suggests that 75% of millennials are looking for travel experiences where they can learn something new. And these experiences should also be a part of business travel.
A study also found out that 55% of millennial travelers were willing to extend a business trip for the sake of leisure travel. Many millennials are taking advantage of business trips and their most powerful passports to experience new places, and in doing so, it’s just one more way that millennial travel habits are changing the face of business travel as we all know it.
