Gen Z and millennial tourists will make up half of all travelers in the Asia-Pacific region, the fastest-growing region in travel, by 2025, says Todd Handcock, global commercial director and head of Asia-Pacific for Collinson Group, which operates the Priority Pass airport lounges.
But this new generation of tourists wants something else from their trips. These two groups have an “extremely heightened focus on personalized, value-added experiences,” according to Collinson’s customer engagement report. Younger travelers are therefore more likely to appreciate perks such as spas or sleeper cabins at the airport, treating the time spent waiting for the flight as part of the overall travel experience.
According to a September Collinson survey, cashback and points remained the most popular financial rewards for Gen X travelers, while Gen Z and millennials showed a preference for experience-based travel rewards.
Other industry research suggests that Gen Z and millennial travelers are more likely to favor natural or cultural experiences when traveling. Travelers from these two groups are also more likely to be influenced by social media than search engines or travel guides.
By comparison, Gen X travelers travel less frequently and are more willing to pay for luxury, according to industry research. These tourists may also be traveling with family and therefore may be looking for family-friendly options or child-friendly activities.
Collinson operates more than 1,500 airport lounges in 600 different cities and works with banks, airlines and hotels to offer access to consumers. “If you take a look at our geographic coverage, we probably have more information than any other airline and hotel group, bar [Marriott] Bonvoy,” says Handcock.
Passengers attempting to enter Collinson Group lounges must present their boarding passes and a membership card, providing the company with information about where people are going, how old they are and how they became Priority Pass members. (Handcock says the company is “rigorous about privacy practices and very protective of our customers’ data.”)
Air travel in Asia Pacific has largely returned to pre-pandemic levels, it says, based on a 17% increase in lounge visits, led by millennials and Gen Z, for the current quarter compared to the same period of 2019.
India and China
India and China are the “significant markets” according to Collinson, says Handcock.
China has lagged the rest of Asia when it comes to resuming international air travel. Fewer flight options, which could also mean higher prices, along with visa backlogs and restrictions, have often been cited by the travel industry as possible reasons for the slower recovery. (Domestic travel, on the other hand, has surpassed pre-COVID levels, with industry data showing no slowdown)
However, data from the recent Lunar New Year holiday suggests that new visa waiver initiatives by neighboring countries such as Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand could encourage Chinese tourists to travel internationally again. According to the National Immigration Administration, China recorded about 13.52 million inbound and outbound trips during the holiday, which is 2.8 times more than the same holiday period last year. Fliggy, a travel platform owned by Alibaba, noted that outbound travel has reached a four-year high.
Handcock notes that Collinson is starting to see more inbound travel to China as well, suggesting that international travelers are now more confident in visiting China. Beijing, for its part, has sought to make travel easier for people outside China. It unilaterally granted citizens of Thailand, Malaysia and 11 different European countries visa-free access to the country,
“China has not fully recovered, but we are seeing significant growth both domestically and from an inflow perspective,” Handcock said.
Hancock is more effusive about India’s potential, citing government policy, a growing middle class, and Collinson’s data indicating a thriving air travel sector.
“Our 2023 lounge visit data showed a 56% year-over-year increase in outbound traffic from India,” says Handcock. India is expected to have around 5 billion overall trips annually by 2030, and travel spending is expected to reach $410 billion by 2030, according to a study released by Booking.com and McKinsey & Company in October.
The top destinations for outbound travel from India, based on Collinson data, are the United Arab Emirates, Thailand, Vietnam, Malaysia and Indonesia.
The Indian government is encouraging more investment in the aviation sector, with the Modi administration saying the government will spend 980 billion Indian rupees ($11.83 billion) by 2025 to build new airports and modernize existing ones.
Indian carriers are also expanding their fleets. The newly privatized Air India ordered 470 planes from Boeing and Airbus in February 2023. Also last year, Indian airline IndiGo ordered 500 Airbus planes at the Paris Airshow, the largest single purchase deal by any airline in the history of commercial aviation.
Fortune will host the first Fortune Innovation Forum in Hong Kong from March 27-28. Experts, investors and leaders of the world’s largest companies will meet to discuss “New strategies for growth”, that is, how companies can best seize opportunities in a rapidly evolving world.