by Tom Bastek
Last updated: 11:00 AM ET, Thu March 19, 2015
Photo courtesy of Thinkstock
Millennials this, millennials that. You can't talk to anyone in any business without them talking about the millennial generation, their spending habits and how they are "changing the game." There is some good reasoning to that as they will be the consumers of the future. But does anyone remember the Baby Boomers? Yeah, those folks born between 1946 and 1964 who number around 76 million people in the United States are still out there.
In fact, a new report published by U.S. News & World Report this week says that companies should take a second look at their marketing plans and not count the Baby Boomers out. Especially considering that the Boomers are currently controlling a whopping 70 percent of the disposable income in the country.
The report goes on to say that although more than half of the people polled say that funding retirement is one of their top financial concerns, 70 percent plan on taking an overnight vacation in the next 12 months. Even more important is that 49 percent of Boomers plan to spend between $1,000 and $5,000 towards a vacation this year. Doing the quick math with averages across the board, that is roughly a $111 billion dollar market. That would be just this year!
Staying More Connected
Even when you talk to parents or grandparents about the online world, it may seem like they are lost, but they're not. U.S. News reports 83 percent of Baby Boomers conduct online research before making major offline purchases. Here is another reason not to count them out: loyalty. If you have boomers on the hook, you should work to let them know you still care because 55 percent of them remain loyal to brands they like.
All of these facts echo the AARP study on 2015 Baby Boomer Travel Trends. In that report, almost 40 percent of Boomers planned to take four or more domestic vacations this year. Over 45 percent said that they are going to take at least one foreign trip if not more. With 80 percent of luxury travel being taken by the Baby Boom generation, it would be wrong to count this demographic out.
So get ready, world; the Baby Boomer generation is "changing the game" of travel and they have $100+ billion dollars to prove it.
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