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As Gen Z says they plan to travel more often with experience and sustainable travel in mind, loyalty programs face new expectations for a connected booking journey
SINGAPORE, July 23, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — Research from digital travel platform Agoda has found that Gen Z travelers across Asia state they are making travel a more regular, experience-led part of their lives, creating new opportunities for banks, airlines and loyalty platforms to deepen engagement by embedding travel more directly into their ecosystems.
Insights derived from a survey of Asian travelers conducted as part of Agoda’s 2026 Travel Outlook report show that Gen Z say their travel is primarily driven by experiences, with cultural exploration (32%), outdoor activities (30%) and culinary discoveries (28%) among the top motivations. Partners can respond by curating destination-specific experiences, offering exclusive member benefits such as attraction or activity discounts or dining privileges and creating bundled travel packages that reflect how younger travelers plan their trips. Delivering these experiences within the loyalty platform helps transform rewards from transactional benefits into meaningful travel experiences.
Nearly three in four Gen Z travelers (73%) plan to take between one and six trips a year, and 86% opt for stays of one to seven days. These shorter, more frequent trip preferences create multiple engagement opportunities for loyalty partners throughout the year. As travel becomes more frequent, banks, airlines and financial service providers have an opportunity to extend the value of their existing loyalty programmes by bringing earn and redeem into the booking flow. They can also surface personalized travel offers based on destination preferences or booking history while integrating flights and activities directly into their apps or digital platforms.
Beyond convenience and experiences, sustainable travel is also becoming an increasingly important consideration for younger travelers. Agoda’s 2026 Sustainable Travel Survey found that 23% of Gen Z travelers say they choose to travel during off-peak periods to reduce their environmental impact, while 38% actively seek accommodations with recognized sustainability certifications.
For airlines, this presents an opportunity to stimulate demand during off-peak travel periods through exclusive member fares and targeted loyalty campaigns. Banks can curate sustainable travel collections within their rewards marketplaces, allowing cardholders to redeem points for certified accommodations and responsible travel experiences. Meanwhile, loyalty providers can make sustainability a more visible part of the member journey by highlighting certified properties, offering bonus rewards for eligible bookings or enabling members to filter for sustainable stays. By embedding these options directly into their travel platforms, partners can better align their loyalty propositions with Gen Z’s evolving values while encouraging more responsible travel choices.
"Gen Z is changing what travel loyalty needs to feel like," said Damien Pfirsch, Chief Commercial Officer and Head of Rocket Travel by Agoda. "They plan around experiences and expect a straightforward path from discovery to booking. The opportunity here is to make travel feel native within the platform’s existing experience, so members can see value clearly, book with confidence and use rewards across the trip. Programs must also be thoughtful about surfacing offers that align with their growing budget and sustainability values. When travel feels like a natural extension of the loyalty experience, partners can increase engagement and build stronger long-term customer relationships."
Through white-label travel infrastructure, banks, airlines and loyalty providers can increasingly offer travel experiences that feel native within their own digital ecosystems. Partners can integrate Agoda’s global inventory of accommodations, flights and activities into their loyalty programmes, allowing members to search, book, earn and redeem rewards without leaving the partner’s platform. This creates a more seamless customer experience for Gen Z travelers while helping partners increase loyalty engagement, generate incremental travel revenue and strengthen the overall value of their rewards ecosystem.
Agoda’s strategic partnerships arm, Rocket Travel by Agoda, has supported partner-branded travel experiences for loyalty programmes, including Southwest Airlines’ Rapid Rewards and China Airlines’ new StayMiles platform.
