Double-edged trouble: Social media proving inspiration and aggravation for young Aussie travellers

If there’s one stereotype that certainly rings true about millennials it’s their love for overseas travel - a cliche perhaps only topped by a love for documenting their international adventures on social media.

As it turns out, social media is not purely the realm of post-trip photo dumping on Facebook or the drip feeding of perfectly choreographed location shots on Instagram, it is providing the actual inspiration for almost one in four Australian millennial travellers in the first place.

According to a recent survey of over 3,000 Australians by travel insurer InsureandGo, 24% of millenials admitted that social media influenced their decisions when choosing their eventual holiday location - Asia (33%), Europe (19%) and the USA (18%) proving some of the most popular social media-inspired hotspots among respondents.   

Even more surprising, and perhaps jarring for baby boomer travellers, was InsureandGo’s finding that 28% of millennials picked their destination purely for a single selfie shot.

“Many millennials are lovers of all things social media so it’s no surprise to see that it plays an important role in choosing a holiday destination,” said Jonathan Etkind, Head of Sales, Digital & Marketing at InsureandGo.

“Social media has become a powerful tool for travellers to uncover new and exciting destinations that they may not have previously known about. As more travellers are documenting their holidays through social media, it’s only natural that they’re inspiring others to see new destinations.”

RELATED: Why you shouldn’t wait to book your travel insurance

While their fondness for social sharing may be motivating some serious globetropping, the survey also found that a love of photos makes millennial travellers (28%) more than twice as likely to lose or damage their phone or camera than baby boomers (14%) while on holiday.

According to the Mozo travel insurance comparison tool, a twenty-four-year-old taking a two week trip to Thailand over Easter could pay as little as $44 for travel insurance that includes $2,500 worth of cover for personal property (like a phone and camera).

“There’s nothing worse than having an incident while travelling, such as having your camera or phone lost or damaged and potentially losing those precious holiday shots,” said Mr Etkind.

“This is one reason why it’s important that travellers of all ages purchase travel insurance with coverage for cameras and mobile phones. With the right policy and level of cover, travel insurance may be able to reimburse travellers for lost or stolen belongings up to a certain amount.”

Not feeling the travel inspiration from your own feed? Check out this guide for six of the best events in the world you won’t want to miss in 2018, or if you’ve already booked a trip don’t forget to compare travel insurance deals to keep you, and all your valuables, safe.