Following a nearly 90 per cent decline in travel during the COVID-19 Pandemic, Baby Boomers have once again outtravelled every other generation, according to to travel insurance startup Squaremouth.com.
COVID fundamentally altered every aspect of American travel for more than two years, including who traveled. With travel returning to normal, Squaremouth examined data from those who purchased travel insurance to identify three new traveler habits and trends.
1 Baby Boomer travelers returning after COVID.
For Q1 and Q2 of 2022, compared to the prior year, Baby Boomers experienced the most significant growth in the total number of travelers and the overall travel insurance market share.
Additionally, Baby Boomers were the only generation to have an improvement in their market share between Q2 2021 and Q2 2022. While travel has increased across practically all demographics (except for the Silent Generation), the recent sharp growth in boomer travel has resulted in a loss of market share for other generations.
Baby Boomer travellers are now travelling again after a nearly 90 per cent reduction at the start of the pandemic.
2 Seniors are still staying home.
Only the Silent Generation will travel less in 2022 than they did in 2019, according to Squaremouth.
This may show that, despite large vaccination campaigns, elders are still not as uneasy traveling now as they were before COVID.
The average for Squaremouth has remained low due to a decline in older tourists and an increase in younger travelers who insure their visits. The average age of travelers is 44, down from 50+ before COVID. When the epidemic was at its worst, this average age fell to 38.
3 Millennials are the largest group of insurance buyers.
Compared to pre-COVID years, Baby Boomers were the only group to see a decline in their overall market share for travel insurance this year. Instead of a decrease among tourists in their 60s and 70s, Squaremouth explains their slide as a rise in younger groups.
Younger generations outtraveled older generations during the pandemic, and as a result, younger generations out purchased travel insurance, either voluntarily or as a result of COVID-related regulations.
In Q2 2022, the Millennial group saw the most significant growth in insured travelers compared to the pandemic years. In contrast to years before COVID, Gen Alpha saw the greatest increase in travelers this year. The youngest generation also accounts for the largest increase in market share compared to 2019.
According to Squaremouth, the rise of their Millennial-aged parents insuring their vacations coincides with the rise of younger tourists.
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