Millennial Travel Statistics and Trends 2026

Last reviewed 5 October 2026. Every figure on this page was checked against the source named next to it; where two sources disagree, the difference is stated.

Millennials are now in their thirties and forties, and they have moved from backpacking into the years of careers, children and bigger travel budgets. This page collects the key numbers on how they travel: their share of the travelling public, how often they go away, what they spend, how they plan, and what they think about remote work, luxury and sustainability, with Gen Z for comparison where the research allows. The figures come from Deloitte's US travel surveys, MMGY's Portrait of American Travelers, ABTA's Holiday Habits research for the UK and Pew Research Center's generation definitions, updated for 2026.

Who counts as a millennial?

Pew Research Center defines millennials as anyone born between 1981 and 1996, Generation X as 1965–1980 and Generation Z as anyone born from 1997 onwards (Pew Research Center). Deloitte uses the same millennial birth years and caps adult Gen Z at 1997–2008 (Deloitte 2026 Summer Travel Survey). That puts millennials at roughly 30 to 45 years old in 2026.

Not every survey cuts the data by generation, though. MMGY defines millennials by age, as 30–45 year-olds in its spring 2026 study (MMGY Global), while ABTA reports UK results in ten-year age bands (ABTA Holiday Habits 2025-26). ABTA's 25–34 band therefore covers younger millennials plus the oldest of Gen Z, and its 35–44 band covers older millennials. The UK figures below use those bands and should be read as a close proxy rather than an exact match.

A third of the travelling public

• Millennials made up 31% of American summer travellers in 2026, up from 29% in 2025 (but below 35% in 2023), making them the largest single generation in Deloitte's traveller mix; Gen X accounted for 24%, boomers 27% and Gen Z 15% (Deloitte 2026 Summer Travel Survey).
• For the 2025 holiday season (Thanksgiving to early January), Deloitte expected Gen Z and millennials together to make up half of all US holiday travellers for the first time (Deloitte 2025 Holiday Travel Survey).

Deloitte's 2026 survey of 4,003 Americans was fielded on 2–9 April 2026, and it found overall summer travel intent at its lowest level in six years (Deloitte press release, May 2026). The pullback was most pronounced among households earning under $100,000, however, and boomers were the only generation cutting their travel budgets, while millennials gained share (Deloitte 2026 Summer Travel Survey).

How often millennials travel

• American millennials planned an average of 3.3 summer trips in 2026 (up 5% on 2025), against 3.4 for Gen Z, 2.9 for Gen X and 2.8 for boomers (Deloitte 2026 Summer Travel Survey).
• 32% of millennial travellers are going abroad for their longest summer trip of 2026, compared with 25% of all travellers staying in paid accommodation (Deloitte 2026 Summer Travel Survey).
• In the UK, 25–34 year-olds take more holidays than any other age group: an average of 5.5 holidays a year, including 2.2 abroad, and 84% plan to travel overseas in the coming year against a 70% average (ABTA Travel Trends 2026).
• ABTA's Travel Confidence Index for 25–34 year-olds rose from +60 to +79 in 2025, the highest of any age group and well above the overall score of +53; 35–44 year-olds scored +64 (ABTA Holiday Habits 2025-26).

Spending: the biggest budgets

Millennials are the highest-spending generation in Deloitte's research. Their average budget for the longest summer trip of 2026, counting transport and accommodation only, is $4,396, up 33% on 2025. Gen X budgets $4,071, boomers $3,857 and Gen Z $3,822 (Deloitte 2026 Summer Travel Survey). For the 2025 holiday season, millennials planned an average travel budget of $2,602, again the highest of any generation (Deloitte 2025 Holiday Travel Survey).

High earners pull the average up. Millennials with a household income above $200,000 are planning 3.73 summer trips with an average longest-trip budget of $6,559, 67% more than everyone else, and 82% of them plan to travel this summer against 49% of all others (Deloitte 2026 Summer Travel Survey). That group is small, though: Deloitte's figures rest on 117 respondents.

British travellers in the same life stage are also ready to spend. 49% of 25–34 year-olds plan to spend more on holidays in the coming year (ABTA Travel Trends 2026), and among those who expect to spend more, 56% of 25–34s say it is because they will take more holidays (ABTA Holiday Habits 2025-26).

Experiences over things

• 83% of UK 25–34 year-olds say holidays are the most important time of the year (65% average), and 90% say holidays are important for their mental health (80% average) (ABTA Travel Trends 2026).
• In Mastercard's UK research, fielded in February 2025, 75% of millennials planned to tick off a "bucket list" experience that year, behind Gen Z (83%) but well ahead of Gen X (54%) (Mastercard UK).
• American Express's 2026 trends survey, which groups millennials and Gen Z together, found 83% prioritise unique, authentic experiences over popular tourist attractions (American Express 2026 Global Travel Trends).
• American millennials plan an average of 2.24 activities on their longest summer trip, more than any other generation (Gen Z 2.17, Gen X 1.87, boomers 1.54) (Deloitte 2026 Summer Travel Survey).

The holidays themselves are fairly traditional. Beach holidays were the most common type among UK 25–34s (57%) and 35–44s (51%) in the year to July 2025, followed by city breaks (45% and 47%). Adventure holidays stand out in plans for the year ahead, chosen by 31% of 25–34s, the highest of any age group (ABTA Holiday Habits 2025-26). Cruising is no longer only for retirees either: 19% of 25–34s took a cruise in the last 12 months, more than the over-65s at 16% (ABTA Travel Trends 2026).

Planning and booking: AI, social video and agents

Millennials are the heaviest users of generative AI for travel research in Deloitte's data: 36% of millennials used it in 2026, against 33% of Gen Z, 24% of Gen X and 25% of all travellers. Two years earlier the millennial figure was 17% (Deloitte 2026 Summer Travel Survey).

MMGY's numbers are far higher, though, because it asks whether travellers have ever used AI tools such as ChatGPT or Gemini to plan travel: 68% of millennials have, against 76% of Gen Z and 50% of all US leisure travellers (MMGY Global, spring 2026). The gap reflects the question asked rather than a contradiction.

• In the UK, 18% of 25–34s and 14% of 35–44s used AI for holiday inspiration in 2025, the highest shares of any age group; the average was 8% (ABTA Holiday Habits 2025-26).
• Social media inspires 41% of UK 25–34s and 32% of 35–44s, against 22% of all adults; 27% and 31% use online video sites (ABTA Holiday Habits 2025-26).
• 33% of American millennials use short social video apps for travel planning, against 42% of Gen Z and 23% overall (Deloitte press release, May 2026).
• Half (50%) of millennials say they enjoy online travel research, level with Gen Z (49%) and well ahead of boomers (24%) (Deloitte 2026 Summer Travel Survey).
• Travel agents still matter: 23% of UK 25–34s turn to travel agents and tour operators for inspiration, slightly above the 21% average (ABTA Holiday Habits 2025-26).

We found no recent primary source measuring smartphone booking by generation; the widely quoted millennial mobile-booking figures date from 2016–2017 and are left out.

Laptop luggers and solo trips

Millennials are the generation most likely to combine work and holidays. 57% of American millennials plan to work during their longest summer trip of 2026, against 34% of all travellers; the overall figure was 23% in 2025 (Deloitte 2026 Summer Travel Survey). Among millennial laptop luggers, 82% say remote work has changed their travel habits (Gen Z 83%, Gen X 57%), most often by taking longer trips (33%), spontaneous trips (25%) and more frequent short breaks (24%) (Deloitte 2026 Summer Travel Survey).

Solo travel is growing in the UK too. 19% of British holidaymakers travelled alone in the year to July 2025, the highest level this decade, and 25–34 year-olds were the most willing to travel solo at 23%, followed by 18–24s and 35–44s at 20% each (ABTA Holiday Habits 2025-26).

Luxury and loyalty

• 40% of millennials plan luxury stays in 2026, the highest of any generation, against 38% of Gen Z, 25% of Gen X, 13% of boomers and 28% overall. Deloitte counts a luxury traveller as someone who has stayed somewhere they consider luxurious in the past two years and plans to stay at a property charging at least $400 a night (Deloitte 2026 Summer Travel Survey).
• Among high-earning millennials (household income above $200,000), 51% plan luxury stays, against 27% of all others (Deloitte 2026 Summer Travel Survey).
• Millennials define luxury by design: 35% named design or visual appearance as one of the two things that made a hotel luxurious, among higher-income luxury guests surveyed in 2025, against 25% of the group overall and 19% of Gen Z (Deloitte 2025 Summer Travel Survey).
• 78% of American travellers belong to at least one travel loyalty programme, and 55% to a hotel programme. Millennials value loyalty mainly for practical ease: check-in, flexible check-out and faster problem-solving at hotels, and a smoother airport experience with airlines (Deloitte 2026 Summer Travel Survey).

Sustainability: concerned, but still flying

Millennials say they care about sustainability, but their actions are more limited. In Deloitte's 2025 survey, 29% of millennials tried to choose hotels, rentals and airlines with higher sustainability ratings, against 38% of Gen Z, 26% of Gen X and 16% of boomers. Millennials were the most likely to filter their search for more sustainable accommodation (21%), while only 10% avoided flying for environmental reasons (Deloitte 2025 Summer Travel Survey).

ABTA describes UK 25–34 year-olds as perhaps the most engaged group on sustainability (ABTA Holiday Habits 2025-26):

• 64% want to know how travel companies benefit the destination (48% average), and 63% want advice on making better choices (42% average) (ABTA).
• 21% of those who travelled chose one hotel over another because it was doing more on sustainability, nearly double the 11% average (ABTA).
• 64% are concerned about overtourism, against 57% of all adults (ABTA).
• However, 62% say they care about sustainability but are not prepared to give up holidays abroad, and 47% feel there is not much they can do as consumers about climate change (39% average) (ABTA).

Sources

• Pew Research Center: Defining generations – where Millennials end and Generation Z begins (January 2019)
• Deloitte: 2026 Summer Travel Survey (survey of 4,003 Americans, April 2026)
• Deloitte: As rising costs slow summer travel to six-year low, travelers plan to spend more (May 2026)
• Deloitte: 2025 Summer Travel Survey
• Deloitte: 2025 Holiday Travel Survey (November 2025)
• MMGY Global: Portrait of American Travelers, spring 2026 edition (April 2026)
• ABTA: Holiday Habits 2025-26 (2,001 UK adults, July–August 2025)
• ABTA: Travel Trends 2026 – the travel trendsetters (November 2025)
• Mastercard UK: 2025 is the year of the bucket list experience (2025)
• American Express: 2026 Global Travel Trends Report