Gen Zs are traveling big this summer — how they're paying for it may surprise you

Move over family travelers.

Gen Zs are set to make the biggest splash this summer, with surveys showing they are upping their vacation plans and spending more than older travelers.

No longer satisfied with road trips to their parents' homes, Gens Z are planning international trips at higher rates than other generations, according to a report released by Bank of America on May 20.

The survey of more than 2,000 Americans showed Gen Zs are planning to travel for longer periods and to take more expensive vacations at higher rates too.

Gen Zs, together with millennials, are at the helm of a surge in travel spending this year, according to an April report published by the market services firm PMG.

That report, which surveyed 1,800 adults in the Unites States, United Kingdom, India, Germany and China, shows 65% of Gen Zs and 72% of millennials said they plan on spending more on leisure travel this year, well ahead of the 54% of Gen Xers and 40% of baby boomers who said the same.

But how Gen Zs — often defined as those born between 1997 and 2012 — plan to fund their travels differs from other age groups too.

The number of Gen Zs who said they're traveling because they have the savings to do so has fallen since August 2023, according to a new report from the research company Morning Consult.

But that's not stopping them, said Lindsey Roeschke, Morning Consult's travel and hospitality analyst and the author of the report.

"Gen Zers have come of age during an incredibly turbulent time," Roeschke said. "This is deeply impacting their travel behaviors."

"Why would they put off going where they really want to go for the sake of saving, when there may be another pandemic, financial crisis, war or other major event that may keep them from ever