Why Travel Planning With Friends and Family Starts With Snapchat

Even as travel demand overall ebbs and flows, Gen Z and millennials are making travel a top priority in their spending habits. Driven by a desire for experiences over material possessions, younger travelers are saving room in their discretionary income to explore new destinations, embrace different cultures, and create lasting memories they can share with family and friends. As a result, this segment is reshaping the travel landscape and setting new trends around travel planning. 

According to Mastercard’s Travel Industry Trends Report, spending on experiences rose by 65 percent between 2019 and 2023. A report by the Global Association for the Attractions Industry showed that 93 percent of travelers planned to visit attractions with the same or increased frequency in 2024 compared to 2023.

Skift spoke with Michelle LeFevere, travel industry lead at Snap Inc., about the young travelers shaping today’s travel industry trends, why they choose Snapchat to inspire, plan, and share their trips, and how brands can create meaningful connections with this powerful — and valuable — traveler segment. 

Travel Remains a Priority for Younger Travelers

As Gen Z and millennials access increased earning power, travel is at the top of their spending wishlists. According to Skift Research, “travel and vacation” is one of the most prominent categories where this cohort plans to increase spending in the next year. Younger travelers are also spearheading the trend toward prioritizing experiences over objects: Nearly half of Gen Z and millennial Snapchat users rate travel experiences as “most important” when compared to material possessions. 

“This generation places a high value on personal well-being, happiness, connection, and creating memories with family and friends,” LeFevere said. “They are passionate about travel and eager to explore the world. Even with the pressures of discretionary spending right now, over two-thirds of both Gen Z and millennial Snapchatters are planning to travel at least as much as they did over the last year.”

Why Snapchat Is Where Travel Planning Happens

It’s no surprise that younger travelers log in to Snapchat to plan upcoming trips with their closest circles. Over 86 percent of Snapchatters use the app before a trip, according to LeFevere. Because the app was originally designed as an alternative to popular social media, it prioritizes messaging with friends instead of scrolling through a feed. That makes Snapchat a no-pressure environment where Gen Z and millennials can have real conversations with friends and family. 

“This generation is using Snapchat to discuss where to go next and what they’ll do with their closest crew,” LeFevere said. “Snapchat is the place where they discover, plan, and talk about where to travel next.”

The travel focus continues past the planning phase to the trip itself. Snapchat’s focus on social connection over social comparison helps Gen Z and millennial users feel comfortable sharing their most authentic moments on the app. Sixty-four percent of Gen Z and 55 percent of millennials frequently share their travel experiences on Snapchat. 

Prioritizing real, unedited content, without all the filtering and polishing that dominates other platforms, has also helped influencer content succeed on the app. “Snapchat is one of the best platforms for creators to share their most authentic travel moments and form intimate connections with their fan base,” said LeFevere. “It’s a breath of fresh air not to have to share the perfect picture.”

How Travel Brands Can Join the Conversation

Snap also supports a number of features that encourage users to connect about travel before, during, and after an amazing trip. Stories, Memories, Messaging, and Snap Map are among younger travelers’ favorite ways to plan and discuss travel. To carry this momentum forward, Snap recently announced a series of paid advertising opportunities designed to help brands connect with this travel-obsessed segment at scale; Snap boasts 850 million monthly active users, and 90 percent of Gen Z and 75 percent of millennials use the app.

For example, the newly announced Sponsored Snaps will enable brands to engage customers with visual messaging sent in an authentic, natural format. “Snapchat is Gen Z and millennials’ preferred form of communication –– and brands are now invited to be part of the Chat inbox,” said LeFevere. Brands can also connect with the 350 million Snapchatters that use the Snap Map each month through Promoted Places, a new ad placement designed to increase incremental reach, visibility, and influence.

“It’s an exciting time on Snapchat as brands can now reach the Snapchat community across two of the most widely and frequently used parts of our service,” said LeFevere.

Beyond native features and sponsored content opportunities, Snapchat also equips travel advertisers with digital tools that influence consumer decision-making and drive bookings. For example, Snap has found that augmented reality (AR) and video advertising options in the platform’s Ad Product Suite are highly effective at driving ROI and meaningful brand engagement for the travel industry.

“Our AR & Video ad formats invite brands into our camera and content environments in an immersive, impactful way,” LeFevere said. “300 million Snapchatters use AR every day on Snapchat, and brands are leveraging this to help users plan where to go next, experience the adventures of travel, and truly ‘go before they go’ on a trip.”

As we head into 2025, it’s safe to assume that younger travelers will be at the heart of the newest trends wherever the travel industry goes next. Their mobile-first tendencies have already changed and shaped the industry in meaningful ways, which we can see in brands’ continued investment in offering travelers seamless digital experiences. And as they continue to lean on social media through the entire trip life cycle, from dreaming, planning, and booking to sharing their travels with their friends and family, Snap is dedicated to engaging younger travelers every step of the way.

“In the next year, Snapchat will continue to become a place for Snapchatters to discover, plan trips, and explore the world,” LeFevere said. “We’re excited to expand how we invite brands into the journey.”

For more information about Snap for Travel, click here. 

This content was created collaboratively by Snap Inc. and Skift’s branded content studio, SkiftX.