Get ready for Generation Z
ABTA Convention delegates were given some insight into how to adapt their businesses to cater for Generation Z, those~born between 1998~and 2016.
In a highly-entertaining presentation, Dr Paul Redmond, director of student experience and enhancement for Liverpool University, said many travel companies were still working with customers as if it was the 20th century.
He said Generation Z have better IT skills than their teachers, are much more willing to share data online and are more open to the idea of having monitoring devices in their homes and cars in order to save money.
In research, 25% of Generation Z said they would even be happy to wear behaviour monitoring devices to get things cheaper.
"Generation Z will have jobs don’t yet exist, in markets not yet invented, providing products and services they don’t yet know they need, in organisations which are not yet trading and with people they’ll never meet," he said.
Dr Redmond said Liverpool University used to run courses to teach students how to use technology and now it runs courses for its staff to bring them up to speed with the technology students carry with them in their pockets.
He said in the workplace, Generation Z are more interested in the culture of the company and being treated fairly and work well collectively.
They demand to know why things are done, rather than just being told ‘what’ and ‘how’.
To illustrate the difference between the generations, he said a Millennial’s attention span was 12 seconds, but was only 8 seconds for Generation Z, both less than the 14-second attention span of a goldfish!
Bev
Editor in chief Bev Fearis has been a travel journalist for 25 years. She started her career at Travel Weekly, where she became deputy news editor, before joining Business Traveller as deputy editor and launching the magazine’s website. She has also written travel features, news and expert comment for the Guardian, Observer, Times, Telegraph, Boundless and other consumer titles and was named one of the top 50 UK travel journalists by the Press Gazette.
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