Millennials and Leisure

Executive Summary

This is the third report in our Millennials Series. In this report, we explore how millennials are reshaping the leisure sector.

• Currently, millennials in the US, the UK and Europe spend less on leisure than older generations do, largely because they have lower incomes.
• In the US, millennials underspend on travel relative to older age groups; this appears to be related, in part, to their unwillingness to take their full allocation of paid time off. We do not see a similar trend in Europe, where millennials tend to take more trips.
• Across multiple countries, millennials show a willingness to spend on dining out. In the US, for example, they spend a greater proportion of their total leisure dollars on dining out than other age groups do. Millennials often find the social element of dining important, and they prefer to eat at restaurants offering a wide range of choices and lower price points.
• Fitness and physical activity are important for this age group, with fitness classes, yoga and Pilates proving popular. Running, however, appears to be going out of fashion among millennials. In the US, millennials are the most stressed-out generation, and meditation is becoming more popular among them.