Has Gen Z Killed the Long Holiday?
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By Owen Konzolo
Why Kenyan Gen Z now prefer several short trips instead of one big annual vacation. Until recently, going on holiday had a very predictable rhythm. As children and teenagers, most of us looked forward to that one big annual trip, maybe two if we were lucky.
The whole family would spend months planning, budgeting, and aligning dates around school holidays and work leave. For many families in Nairobi, that annual pilgrimage was usually to the village for most urban-dwelling families or the Coast, most especially Mombasa.
Even today, as soon as December approaches, you can feel the excitement building in many homes.But the travel habits of young adults today have changed completely. A recent global report by YouGov on behalf of Airbnb revealed that 7 in 10 Gen Z travellers would rather take three short trips a year than one long holiday, with 87% preferring trips that last under a week.
As the world has become more porous and accessible than we’ve ever experienced it, a single trip a year no longer seems realistic and desirable to a generation bombarded with ‘10 must-visit places in Rift Valley with under Ksh10000’ reels daily.
Gen Z Prefers Short Trips Over One Big Annual Holiday
To understand this shift better, I spoke to two young Kenyans with very different realities but the same travel energy.
Wanjiru Muthoni, a graphic designer based in Nairobi, didn’t travel much as a child. So when she decided she wanted to go to Zanzibar just to experience the beaches and Stone Town she had seen online, she convinced her best friend and sister to join her with very little planning.
“It was my first proper international trip. We just booked flights and figured out the rest when we landed. Even though it was only four days, it felt like a proper reset. I came back refreshed and already planning my next short escape, Wanjiru said.
Muli Nzivoh, a functional analyst who moved to Rwanda for work three years ago, lives in perpetual vacation-planning mode to ward off corporate burnout.
“As a Type-A person, I always plan my trips well in advance, not only because it is more economical but also because it gives me something to look forward to on the days I feel existential about work. Shorter trips mean more frequent trips.”
At a time when our attention spans are so fractured and constantly being pulled in numerous directions at all times, shorter trips to new places offer a perfect balance of the novelty and transience that we are so used to.
“As a young adult, having access to the entire Schengen area also helps me experience a wide variety of things, people, places, and cuisines, which is something I’ve always dreamt of. It would be a shame if I let that go to waste,” Das says.
In an age where our attention is constantly pulled in different directions, short trips offer the perfect mix of novelty and recovery.
They don’t feel incomplete because there is no pressure to “see everything.” You go, you experience, you come back recharged.
With access to disposable income alongside a generous spirit of whimsy, vacations for young people have turned into side quests in which each city stands for the possibilities it holds.
As the ‘Never the Same’ report suggests, this anti-itinerary generation prefers open-ended experiences and considers rest essential for recuperating from the struggle of life back home.
Shorter trips don’t feel incomplete because there is no quantifiable goal to achieve, just experiences to imbibe the most joy from.
“Whenever I miss something on a trip, I have this habit of saying, ‘That’s okay, we’ll just come here next time, even when there is no guarantee I’m coming back. In just saying it out loud, I manifest a part of it,” Nzivoh says.
Travel as a Reset From Everyday Life
This also goes to show how the desire to “travel like a local,” a concept that has gained steam on social media, is not something Gen Z deludes itself with.
They are aware that their real lives are waiting for them back at home, and also that they can dip in and out of those lives with short, well-planned breaks.
Also Read: Bradley “Gen Z Goliath”: From Carrying Luggage on Nairobi Streets to Celebrity Status
Muthoni points out that whenever she travels, she is “cognisant of the fact that I am a visitor and I am here for a momentary time. I don’t think I can pretend that I would like to be a local and experience the city like that because the hardships they face in their daily life are something I will never experience as a tourist.”
For many young working Kenyans, these short trips have become like side quests in the middle of adulting. They are not trying to escape their real lives completely. They just want small pockets of joy and perspective to make the daily grind more bearable.
Even though late-state capitalism has filled our days with dread, having a short trip brewing in the back of your head and spending time in anticipation of it is a crucial reprieve.
When I ask if they have any future trips booked, both of them tell me that they, in fact, do, and looking forward to it makes them significantly happier on bad work days.
Nzivoh is going to Jinja, or rather “Source Of The Nile,” to meet a friend he made online years ago, while Muthoni is going to Watamu with a friend to watch the coral reefs and the dolphins.
Like them, on the days you feel the walls closing in, you should consider packing a bag for the weekend rather than waiting for your PTO request to get approved. Or you could go rogue and do an ‘extreme day trip’.
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Has Gen Z Killed the Long Holiday? Photo/file
