Justi-cation? There Is A New Viral Travel Word Going Around

From 'bleisure' to 'quiet life travel,' the TikTok age comes up with no shortage of new terms to describe the changing ways different generations travel.

The former is a portmanteau of 'business' and 'leisure' both for those who have either extended a work trip to squeeze in a few days of sightseeing or do remote work on a personal trip. Quiet life travel, meanwhile, simply means going to places outside big cities to recharge and be at one with nature.

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Google Trends  (GOOGL)  data shows that U.S.-based searches for the terms 'justication' or 'justi-vacation' (another portmanteau of 'justify' and 'vacation') first started to spike in May 2024 while on TikTok the hashtags for different spellings of the term have over one million videos each.

You've probably already taken a 'justication'

zThe term generally refers to a vacation that that one takes despite not being able to afford it or otherwise justifies for any reason — an increasingly common reality as identified in the 16th annual Vacation Confidence Index by travel insurance company Allianz Partners USA  (ALIZY) .

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The survey of 2,010 adults of different ages showed that 68% of Americans plan to take a vacation at some point in the remaining part of 2024, the highest number observed since 2009. 

An even larger number — 73% — said they are in "desperate need of a vacation," despite the fact that 47% also said they can't afford one this year.

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'Someone takes a vacation despite not being able to afford the expenses'

Allianz classifies this as a "new travel trend that rationalizes actions: the justified vacation or 'justi-vacation' when someone takes a vacation despite not being able to afford the expenses that come with traveling."

The numbers also show that there is some degree of wishful thinking going on as only 22% of those polled said they actually took a vacation within the past three months. Gen Z and millennials were the most likely to have vacationed while the difference between the younger generation and 35- to 54-year-olds was only 25% and 24%. Only 18% of respondents older than 55 took a vacation in the same time period but were no less likely to want one.

While the numbers show that most respondents will take a vacation of some kind, many are also changing where they want to go or how long they will be away due to financial pressures — 57% of respondents who said they would be taking a vacation this year also said that they will scale it back in some form amid rising costs (most often, by cutting the trip down to fewer days.)

"Despite citing financial constraints and other external factors, Americans are even more determined to travel to their destination of choice," Daniel Durazo of Allianz Partners said in a statement.

But as is always the case with wealth inequality, not everyone has to pinch pennies when it comes to travel. Another 27% of respondents said they plan to go all out and spend more on luxury experiences such as business-class plane tickets and luxury hotels this year.

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