Canadian Boomers Seek Travel Luxury, Culture, Beaches

Published January 3, 2014 | By Clark Norton

Multi-generational travel is a popular offering from Road Scholar tours; boomers and millennials together in Costa Rica. Photo from Road Scholar.

Much like U.S. baby boomers, Canadian boomers have largely put their backpacking days in the rear-view mirror, seeking instead to pursue luxury and explore history, art, culture and warm beaches when they travel.

According to a Travelocity.ca survey of 1,004 randomly selected Canadians of two different generations (boomers and millennials), 89 percent of the boomers (born between 1946 and 1964) surveyed said they planned to travel just as much or more in 2014 than they did in 2013.

And 47 percent of them — spread just about equally between men and women — rate luxury travel as very important in their planning.

Twenty seven percent of the boomers surveyed listed exploring history, art and culture as their top priority, the most of any category. Just under a quarter of respondents named a deluxe, all-inclusive beach vacation as their number one choice, finishing second.

Backpacking finished last: just nine percent planned to go backpacking this year. By contrast, millennials (those born between 1981 and 2001) ranked backpacking trips third in their priority list, at 18 percent.

Interestingly, though, the millennials surveyed also ranked pursuing history, art, and culture at the top of their lists, and all-inclusive beach vacations number two, just as boomers did. And they displayed many of the same expensive tastes as well, with 44 percent rating luxury travel as very important.

“The data revealed that millennials have experienced comfortable travel with their parents and now seem unwilling to compromise on their own adventures in 2014,” said Brian Simpson of Travelocity.ca.

All this can only be good news for boomer grandparents traveling with their grandchildren aged 13 and up — one of the biggest trends in boomer travel — as well as for high-end tour operators such as Epic Road and Road Scholar that offer multi-generational trips geared to them.

Who would guess that boomers, now in their fifties and sixties, and millennials, now in their early teens to early 30s, would have such similar tastes in travel. But if you’re going to set off down the road together, it’s incredibly convenient.

This Week’s Travel Quiz:

Which of these travel sites was NOT one of the top 20 pins on Pinterest in 2013?

A. Taormina in Sicily

B. Bagan Temples in Myanmar

C. Blue Lagoon in Iceland

D. The rock city of Petra in Jordan

I’ll have the answer in my next post.

Meanwhile, be sure to download my free report, “How to Ride the Coming Wave of Boomers,” available here. It’s all about the best ways to market travel to baby boomers — the biggest-spending group of travelers the world has ever seen. It’s also the easiest way to subscribe to my blog, so you won’t miss a posting. Thanks!