Catching the Next Wave

They’re young, well-traveled and cyber-savvy, but they’re probably not your clients. They should be. That’s the message being spread by Frank Marini, the new president of Anaheim, Calif.-based Contiki, Vacations for 18- to 35-year-olds.

“Go to the young adult market; don’t just leave them to the Internet,” Marini implores. “If you don’t address it now, you’re leaving out a huge generation of people who are not used to relying on travel agents for information.”

Marini’s crusade is to help travel agents catch the next generational wave looming up after the highly lucrative Baby Boomers.

Generation X encompasses 23- to 41-year-olds while Generation Y is generally viewed as those who are now 22 and younger.

Sure, Marini’s message is a tad self-serving since Contiki’s business will only grow if more agents sell it. But he knows the young-adult market at age 31, he’s even part of it and there’s almost no one else pushing this particular message.

In fact, the young adult market, especially Gen Y, has been ignored by the travel industry as a whole, Marini contends.

Yet one-third of the U.S. population falls into the 18- to 35-year-old age bracket, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

And travel during the college years spring breaks to Cancun, summers in Europe seems to have become an entitlement. About 58 percent of college students traveled in the past year; of that, more than half was on leisure vacations, according to a market research company called 360 Youth.

But today’s spring-breaker is tomorrow’s college graduate who will likely get married, take a honeymoon and become part of a double-income family. The young adult’s travel tastes will mature, along with their income and status.

“When agents think of the youth market, they think Spring Break and cheap tickets,” Marini said. “I look at it as investing in the future.”

Reaching these young people is the challenge. Obviously, they’re online.

Members of Generation X have lived at least half their lives within reach of cyberspace, while Gen Y has never known a world without computers or the Internet. (They probably don’t know what Pong is.)

Yes, they do book travel on the Internet; Baby Boomers do too. While the number of travelers in all age groups who used the Internet to obtain information stabilized at 64.1 million last year, 42.2 million booked travel online an 8 percent increase over 2002 according to a study from the Travel Industry Association of America.

Still, one survey found that these cyber-savvy members of Gens X and Y would still seek advice from travel agents.

In fact, 46 percent of the respondents to the Opinion Research Corp. survey said they would use travel agents to plan a two-week international trip that would cost about $1,500, while 38 percent said they would use the Internet.

That contention was borne out by some young adults TravelAge West interviewed. “The Internet is my first resource when researching travel destinations, accommodations and fares,” said Nicole, a 28-year-old customer service representative from Palmdale, Calif. “However, if I’m unable to find the information I’m looking for, or if I want to speak to someone who has been to the destination I’m considering, I would seek out the assistance of a travel agent.”

Jeff, a 29-year-old television director, and his wife, Leah, used a local travel agent to book the Melbourne-to-Tasmania portion of an Australia trip last summer.

“We didn’t know where we were going for our little mini-vacation and walked into [the agency] to get some ideas,” he said. “The agent was very helpful. We were happy with the trip.”

What’s more, many young adults hesitate to make vacation choices solely on Internet information.

The Opinion Research Corp. study found that 37 percent of those surveyed said they rely primarily on family and friends when making travel decisions, while 29 percent said they rely on the Internet.

That’s because these generations are bombarded with as many as 4,000 advertisements a day, said Lisa Wooldridge, vice president of marketing for Contiki.

As a result, traditional advertising often renders itself impotent, as people turn toward old-fashioned, word-of-mouth recommendations.

“This particular generation is so reliant on advice and recommendations from peers,” she said. “Advertising a brand to this audience doesn’t work, so you have to rely on more grassroots, guerrilla marketing.”

To that end, Contiki has taken several steps toward reaching that market that combine word-of-mouth and Internet tools.

The company’s sales force is training travel agents on “how to find a sale within a sale,” Marini said.

For example, travel agents can ask their Baby Boomer clients if they have children or grandchildren. If so, they can encourage them to book tours for graduation or birthday gifts. Contiki also is creating marketing pieces for travel agents to give their Baby Boomer clients, who would in turn pass them on to their children and grandchildren.

In addition, Contiki encourages agents who fall within its target age group to take a complimentary tour not a fam trip, but a scheduled departure in order to gain authentic experiences that they can relay to their clients.

For agents over 35, Contiki offers videos of tours and a PowerPoint presentation and runs a travelogue contest in which clients create Web sites based on their trips. Winners get free trips, and agents get to use the sites as sales tools.

“It creates a community of endorsements,” Wooldridge said.

Also in the works is a marketing guide called “How to Sell to the Youth Market,” Wooldridge said. The guide presents techniques used by agents such as setting up a table at a college fair and contacting young professionals through social, athletic and singles clubs.

It also identifies who the clients are students, members of the military, couples and young professionals.

“It’s not a backpacker walking into your office,” Wooldridge said. Marini acknowledged that many young adults especially those in Gen Y might balk at taking a motorcoach tour like those offered by Contiki and want to opt for a rail pass.

“Ask them why they are going on a rail trip to Europe. Is it because they love rail?” Marini asked. Most often, he added, they see rail as simply a mode of transportation.

“Ask them, ‘How would you like to come back with 40 new friends?’ ” he said. “It’s not a just a bus tour of Europe. This age bracket is much more open to meeting new people from different cultures.”

Marini recently went on Contiki’s European Discovery Tour, where he traveled with people from 11 countries, including a pair of Brazilian teachers, an Australian miner and a soft-spoken Korean woman “who’s a die-hard heavy-metal fan,” he said. “I came back with e-mail addresses, and now I have friends from around the world.”

As a high school student, Nicole, the Palmdale customer service representative, took a group tour through England and Scotland 10 years ago.

“I felt like I found a part of myself that had been missing the part of me that is fascinated by people, culture and geographical beauty,” she said. “It was one of the happiest times of my life. Because of that experience, I would definitely do it again.”

The trend toward more cultural experiences is nothing new. Baby Boomers were among the first to establish that trend, and for younger generations, it’s become the norm. The same goes for more free time, shorter tours and flexible itineraries.

Contiki has addressed those issues with products such as Getaway Tours, which include two predetermined cities and the option to extend the stay and visit a third city of the client’s choice; Regional Tours with more in-depth itineraries to places such as Scotland or the Mediterranean; and Lifestyle Tours such as “Taste of Tuscany” and “Pubs and Country Roads of Ireland.” It also offers adventure tours in Australia and New Zealand (with smaller groups of 20 or fewer), cruises with Royal Olympic, and a variety of U.S. and Canada tours.

Within the itineraries, clients can personalize their experiences with optional activities, such as dinner at the Moulin Rouge in Paris or rafting in Bolsena, Italy.

Of course, young adults also have cyber needs, and Contiki’s tour managers know the cheapest Internet cafes, as well as phones that offer low rates, according to Wooldridge. Contiki also operates welcome centers with Internet stations at certain hotels in the destinations it serves, such as London.

So while most agents and travel suppliers are understandably focused on the lucrative Baby Boomer market, it could pay to remember their children and grandchildren also love to travel. As do the college kids next door and all their friends.

After all, you don’t want to miss catching the next generational wave, dude.