Generation Z is more likely to travel domestically in order to save money even though they might prefer to travel internationally instead, according to new travel data.
Booking.com’s 2026 Travel Trends survey shows that 20 percent of the American adults who participated in the poll planned on reducing their travel budgets by opting to travel domestically, while more than one in four (or 26 percent) of Gen Z respondents, those born roughly between 1997 and 2012, said the same.
This contrasts with other findings from the survey that Gen Z respondents were less likely to agree with the statement: “I prefer to travel domestically.” Forty-nine percent of Gen Z participants agreed with the statement while 63 percent of Millennials, those born between 1981 and 1996, agreed with it and 64 percent of all participants held the same sentiment.
The findings come as affordability pressures are shaping discretionary spending nationwide, with surveys showing Americans making trade-offs across everyday expenses—including travel.
According to Booking.com’s survey, sampling 2,000 American adults in January 2026, 50 percent reported they would opt for a domestic trip because it “tends to be more affordable.”
Other reasons included it being easier plan domestic trips (45 percent), there being plenty to offer domestically (40 percent) and domestic trips being more convenient due to shorter travel time (35 percent).
Gen Z does not show as much enthusiasm for domestic travel, because the generation typically “chases trending destinations and social-media inspiration,” which “naturally pushes them beyond domestic borders,” Rachel J.C. Fu, a tourism professor and director of the Eric Friedheim Tourism Institute at the University of Florida, told Newsweek.
“Younger travelers are more likely to plan trips around food, culture, or pop culture rather than proximity,” Fu said. “Millennials are more likely to have families and structured schedules, which pushes them toward domestic, predictable, and easier-to-plan travel.”
While more Gen Z travelers will likely prefer international travel over domestic trips, the generation is “financially strategic,” Fu said. “If international travel is too expensive, they pivot fast rather than cancel travel altogether.”
“Gen Z shows strong interest in travel despite economic pressure,” Fu said. “Many are early in their careers, dealing with inflation, rent, and student debt, so they adapt.”
Barbara Duffek, a professor of marketing at Georgia State University, told Newsweek that evidence suggested Gen Z “actively prioritizes travel and makes deliberate trade-offs to enable it.”
She said this means the data “should not be interpreted simply as financial constraint driving compromise,” as Gen Z is known to be “willing to cut back on other areas of spending to preserve travel, indicating that travel remains a high-priority category rather than a discretionary afterthought.”
A 2024 Bankrate survey found that younger generations, particularly Gen Z, was more likely to spend more on travel, than older generations, indicating that the generation could also be looking to get more for its buck by opting for domestic travel.
Makarand Mody, a professor of hospitality marketing at Boston University, told Newsweek that, in a sense, “this is something they have been ‘trained for’ for some time now, given that surveys tend to show that this generation tends to trend high on financial insecurity.”
Various surveys have shown the growing financial insecurity of Gen Z: a 2024 Arta Finance survey found 38 percent of Gen Z participants were already experiencing a “midlife crisis” due to financial concerns, and a 2025 Step survey found nearly half of Gen Z runs out of money each month, and less than a quarter consider themselves financially stable.
The result is that “Gen Z may be less likely to prefer domestic travel in principle, but more likely to use it as a budgeting strategy in practice,” which Mody said suggested the generation is “still highly motivated to travel, but is making pragmatic trade-offs around affordability, flexibility, and overall value.”
For Gen Z, domestic trips appear less a shift in taste than a tactical choice shaped by rising costs. While many younger travelers remain drawn to international destinations influenced by culture and social media, affordability pressures are increasingly determining how—rather than whether—they travel.
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