Picture a queue outside a tiny bakery in a foreign city. Half the people in line are staring at their phones, and a few are filming the pastry before it’s even been paid for. To a traveler who grew up with paper maps and printed guidebooks, the scene can look baffling.
Still, Gen Z’s habits aren’t random. Recent surveys from travel brands and research firms show a generation that travels often, plans differently and spends with clear priorities. Here are eight habits that tend to raise eyebrows, along with what the data says about why they exist.
Letting TikTok Pick the Destination
Older travelers often start with a friend’s recommendation or a trusted guidebook. Many Gen Z travelers start with a short video. A TUI Musement study across Spain, Italy and the UK found that 48% of Gen Z respondents named TikTok as a source of travel inspiration, ahead of friends and family at 43%.[1] That’s a real change in who gets to shape a holiday.
The same research points to a side effect that puzzles plenty of onlookers: the pressure to look good online. More than a third of respondents (37%) felt pressure to make their trips look more exciting on social media, rising to 45% among Gen Z.[1] Nearly four in ten travelers overall said they’d visited a hotspot mainly to take a photo or video.[1] Interestingly, nearly one in five respondents said an obsession with photos would be a red flag in a travel companion.[2] So even the generation doing the filming has mixed feelings about it.
Asking a Chatbot to Plan the Whole Trip
Where a previous generation might have booked through a travel agent, plenty of Gen Z travelers open an AI assistant. Booking.com’s 2026 Travel Trends survey found that 69% of Gen Z respondents use generative AI to plan trips and while traveling, the highest share of any age group.[3] The gap with older travelers is wide. Only 41% of Gen X and just 11% of Boomers do the same.[3]
The picture isn’t entirely one-sided, though. In a UK study, 51% of Gen Z had used tools such as ChatGPT to help plan a holiday, compared with 9% of Baby Boomers.[4] Yet a separate Squaremouth survey found that only 38% of Gen Z respondents strongly agreed that AI is integral to how they travel, lower than the other generations it measured.[5] Gen Z uses these tools often, but it doesn’t follow them blindly.
Treating Supermarkets as Tourist Attractions
Spend an afternoon in a foreign grocery store on purpose? For many younger travelers, that’s a highlight. According to Skyscanner, 32% of Gen Z travelers plan to visit a supermarket on their next vacation.[6] The motivation is curiosity rather than thrift.
Skyscanner’s data suggests that Gen Z heads to supermarkets and convenience stores to find foods they can’t get at home (44%) and to try unique flavors of global brands (43%).[6] Food hunting goes well beyond the aisles, too. American Express found that more than 75% of Millennials and Gen Z surveyed would likely seek out a food item that has gone viral during a trip.[7] A strange candy bar can be a souvenir, a story and a gift in one.
Skipping the Drinks on Holiday
The classic holiday image, cocktail by the pool and a late night out, doesn’t appeal to everyone under 30. A UserTesting survey showed that more than half of Gen Z travelers have become more interested in alcohol-free travel in recent years.[8] Wellness plays a part, but money may matter more. Nearly two thirds of Gen Z said saving money is what drives them toward drinking less on trips, making it the main reason.[8]
Safety and comfort also come up. In a 2024 StudentUniverse survey reported by Australian media, the stated reasons for taking an alcohol-free holiday included safety (66%), cost (55%) and losing days to hangovers (53%).[9] Tour operators have noticed. An EF Ultimate Break survey found that 68% of 18 to 22-year-olds wanted sober activities during spring break.[10] The industry is now building itineraries around that preference.
Building a Whole Trip Around One Event
Older tourists usually pick a place and then look for things to do. Many younger travelers flip that order. KAYAK and TikTok’s 2026 report found that 97% of Gen Z and Millennial travelers plan to travel for a major event in 2026.[11]
The event can be a major sporting competition, a concert or a festival.[11] In this model the ticket is the anchor, and the flights, hotels and sightseeing get arranged around it. It’s a very different way to think about a holiday, and it explains why a stadium date can matter more than a famous landmark.
Heading for the Mountains and Small Towns
Gen Z’s reputation is neon city breaks, yet plenty of the data points somewhere quieter. Skyscanner reports that 58% of Gen Z is retreating to the mountains.[6] In the UK, 79% of young Brits were planning or considering a summer or autumn mountain trip in 2026, and 53% said peace and quiet appealed most.[12]
Small towns are getting attention as well. KAYAK’s report says 84% of travelers would prefer a smaller town for their 2026 escapes, expecting lower prices, fewer crowds and more authenticity.[11] One in five travelers said social posts inspired them to visit a village.[11] The same report notes that more than 60% of next gen travelers name a mental reset as their top travel priority.[11]
Leaving the Itinerary Open and Booking Workshops
It might look like Gen Z doesn’t plan, but the reality is more nuanced. American Express found that 87% of global respondents like to leave room in their itinerary for unexpected local discoveries.[13] The surprise is part of the plan.
What fills the gaps is often hands-on. Whether it’s a tortilla-making class in Mexico City or a fragrance workshop in Paris, 79% of Millennials and Gen Z surveyed said they’d likely seek out local workshops in 2026.[13] Meanwhile, 83% of them say they prioritize unique, authentic experiences over popular tourist attractions.[13] Passive sightseeing is losing ground to doing something yourself.
Traveling Often on a Tight Budget
Older tourists sometimes assume young people can’t afford to travel much. The numbers say otherwise. Across the globe, 52% of Gen Z travelers take at least three leisure trips per year.[14] In American Express research, 74% of Millennials and Gen Z described travel as a non-negotiable expense.[15]
The trade-off is that they hunt for value relentlessly. 62% of Gen Z use apps and digital platforms to find better deals[14], and 38% of young Brits are willing to swap plush pillows for budget stays if it stretches the holiday.[14] Help from home plays a role too, as 46% of global Gen Z travelers rely on their parents to help pad their travel budget.[14] Frequent trips, then, come from careful cost-cutting rather than endless spending.
Taken together, these habits describe a generation that discovers places through screens, hands parts of the planning to software and cares more about experiences than status. Some of it looks odd from the outside, but most of it has a practical logic behind it, whether that’s saving money, staying safe or finding something that feels real.
Older and younger travelers also have more in common than the headlines suggest. Both want a trip worth remembering. They just start from different places to find it, and the best journeys might borrow a little from each.
