Younger travelers are planning more, even turning to travel agents

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It's become evident that younger travelers — Gen Z and Millennials — are putting more thought into their travel planning as they look for deals and are traveling farther for experiences and events.

American Express Travel President Audrey Hendley joins Yahoo Finance Live to share her observations on travel bookings as younger generations even seek out more traditional means for their adventuring, such as turning to travel agencies.

"Like everything else, the role of the travel agent has been modernized. These customers are going to travel agents because... it kind of ties with their desire to go further and to have more... bigger expedition types of trips," Hendley explains. "They're typically more expensive and they're further away. So they're turning to travel agents to get more insights, plan a little better, and really think about the experience they want to have when they get to the destination."

For more expert insight and the latest market action, click here to watch this full episode of Yahoo Finance Live.

Editor's note: This article was written by Luke Carberry Mogan.

Video Transcript

JULIE HYMAN: Gen Z and millennials are becoming airport dads. That's what a new survey from Amex Travel is looking like. Many younger travelers meticulously planning trips to make sure they make the most out of every dollar. Here to help us break down the latest travel trends, Amex Travel President Audrey Hendley. Audrey, thanks for being here. So what sort of stood out to you from this study? Is it that, you know, these folks are spending sort of more time and more care in planning their travel?

AUDREY HENDLEY: So a few things that stood out, particularly because we're really watching the trends with millennials and Gen Z's. They're the up and coming travelers, and they're very ambitious about traveling the world. We heard that they're using travel agents. They have all these travel hacks that they use to get themselves around the world. They're traveling for sporting events. And there's a lot of them actually traveling solo around the world.

JOSH LIPTON: And Audrey, I'm curious. When we talk about millennial and Gen Z, you-- you've got a lot of data and insight. They are-- Are they now traveling more than boomers? And if so, are you kind of adjusting your products and services to cater to that?

AUDREY HENDLEY: Yeah. We continue to adjust our travel. For American Express, we acquire a significant number of new customers that are millennials and Gen Zs. So we've done all kinds of things. Like change the experience in our travel airport lounges. We've continued to modify the hotels we work with and the destinations that we serve. And it's an iterative process, as you can imagine. We've been in the travel business for over 100 years. So it's a lot of innovation. It's a lot of talking to customers. And as you say, a lot of looking at a lot of data.