Luxury buying behaviour across different tourists’ generations

Luxury in tourism and hospitality has undergone a fundamental shift triggered by changes in consumer preferences that have gradually moved from the concept of “owning” to that of “being”. As a result, the experiential dimension of tourism and hospitality services is today the fastest-growing part of the luxury industry. This chapter explores the nature of luxury consumption in tourism and hospitality across generational cohorts of consumers. Consumers perceive luxury in different ways and expect different outcomes from the consumption of luxury goods and services; a set of factors including origin, age, values and cultural traits influence tourists´ consumption of luxury products and service. Generational cohort theory posits how generations of individuals that share the same political, economic, and social events during the early stages of life tend to develop a similar set of beliefs, values, and behaviors. Thus, belonging to different generations has strong implications on consumer relationship with luxury and related brands. Elderly generations tend to prefer long established brands with a legacy and are mainly motivated to consume luxury as it represents a social statement and increases personal delight. Younger generations (e.g. Gen Z) portray luxury lifestyles on social media such as Instagram and TikTok to gain social visibility online and to influence their peers, and show lower levels of loyalty towards luxury brands. Different approaches to the sustainability and ethical dimensions of luxury consumption are also evident across generations of consumers. The chapter provides suggestions to luxury tourism organizations and indicates future research directions in light of the growing relevance of the experiential dimensions in luxury tourism.