Last year, as part of a final paper I was writing for one of my tourism courses, I asked my audience on Tiktok the following wine tourism related question:
Would you rather A) go on a several hour long guided vineyard tour (not on horseback) or B) put on a provided whimsical outfit, go get wine drunk in a field, and then feed some grapes to some friendly raccoons.
The video gathered almost 60,000 views and, as I suspected, the vast majority of commenters preferred option B. This didn’t surprise me at all, but only further cemented what I the studies were saying…
Gen Z does not want structured tourism
When choosing tourism activities, Gen Z wants authenticity and incredibly novel, organic experiences. This is where hypothetical whimsy-core raccoon wine tasting activity comes in come in.
When it comes to creating and marketing tourism activities, the generational cohort of your target market must be taken into account. Gen X-ers and Millennials love tours, and they love things that are supposed to be for tourists–and that’s okay. But these groups are typically the kind of people who think that a backstage tour of Harry Potter World is the most exciting thing that they can do on a vacation. To this demographic, it doesn’t matter that their tour or activity is the exact same for everybody, that they really have no control over it whatsoever.
Why are Gen Z's tourism preferences different?
Unlike those in previous generational cohorts, Gen Z, wants to be totally in control of their own vacations.
Although Gen Z tends to be well educated, they also tend to be incredibly underpaid. So, if Gen Z-ers are going on vacation, they want to make sure that they are getting the most out of it. Because honestly? They likely don’t know when their next vacation will be.
So, for someone in Gen Z looking to do a niche tourism activity, even if they genuinely enjoy wine, a several hour long guided tour is not going to be appealing. However, getting to roam beautiful vineyards in a fun outfit, connect with like minded people (and avoid the snobby vibes of typical wine tourists), interact with nature and animals, and enjoy things at their own pace is appealing to this generational cohort.
One last thing...
Looking to develop new activities to cater to this demographic? Take note! Folks who are part of Gen Z really do legitimately crave to “touch grass.”
With that in mind, you’ll find sustainable, nature based activities to be a hit among this generational cohort.
