Nearly half of American travelers featured in a new study have "pushed beyond what felt safe" on a trip, and more than a third of Gen Z travelers have taken a risk to capture a picture or video, according to the findings of the study shared exclusively with Newsweek. Asked why younger travelers may be more likely to take risks for social media content, Jordan Bridger, a behavioral scientist and social psychologist, told Newsweek that "a phone camera turns every viewpoint into a peer audience." He explained that "the reputational payoff" of a dramatic shot is larger for younger travelers, and "platforms reward the dramatic frame, so they work as a scoreboard more than a cause." Travel expert and content creator Gabby Beckford runs the Young Travelers Network Facebook group, a community of more than 10,000 Gen Z travelers. She told Newsweek that "a risky photo or video can pay a young traveler back in attention, status, and opportunities in a way it rarely does for an older traveler," with Gen Z being online more than any other generation.
The new research follows several incidents in recent months involving tourists who have either died or been injured while visiting scenic spots. Back in August, a 20-year-old died while posing for photos in a restricted area at the top of the 177-foot waterfall at Silver Falls State Park in Oregon. In September, a tourist who was said to be around 30 years old, according to local authorities, reportedly fell from a viewing spot at a tourist site in Dubrovnik, Croatia, sustaining injuries to her head and arms.
The research was undertaken by Climbing Kilimanjaro, a Tanzanian specialist operator of guided Mount Kilimanjaro climbs, Tanzania safaris, and Zanzibar beach stays. The study surveyed 1,013 U.S. adults on how social media shapes the trips they dream about, plan, and take. It also analyzed keywords and hashtags applied to nearly 24,000 top climbing posts across YouTube, Instagram and TikTok.
The average age of respondents in the study was 40, with millennials making up the largest share of respondents (50 percent), followed by Gen X (24 percent), Gen Z (21 percent), and baby boomers (5 percent). Unpacking the figure on 28 percent taking a physical risk to get a better photo or video, Bridger told Newsweek: "I'd read it less as social media making travelers reckless and more as an audience effect that long predates it." He explained: "In a well-known lab study, having peers watching increased risky choices in teenagers and young adults but not in adults," referring to a study published in Developmental Psychology in July 2005. The study found that "adolescents are more inclined toward risky behavior and risky decision making than are adults and that peer influence plays an important role in explaining risky behavior during adolescence." Beckford of the Young Travelers Network Facebook group is a zillennial, born during the later years of the millennial generation and the early years of Gen Z.
She agrees with Bridger, telling Newsweek: "I don't think social media is the cause of this, as much as an amplifier of an existing truth. Younger people tend to take more risks in every area of life, including money and their careers. Travel is no exception but social media drastically increases the payoff for those risks." Bridger said the fact that 71 percent were inspired to take a physically demanding trip, while 17 percent actually booked one, was especially telling.
He explained: "Most people only imagine the climb, and the few who take the risk are the ones whose audience is already in the room. So, the lever for destinations is design rather than warnings: build the photo spot behind a railing instead of posting a sign." Paromita Pain, an associate professor of global media studies at the University of Nevada, Reno, told Newsweek that while the Climbing Kilimanjaro survey identifies an age difference in reported risk-taking, "it does not establish what caused it," noting that differences in platform use, travel experience, and the activities respondents undertake may also matter. Shailendra Pratap Jain is a professor of marketing and international business at the University of Washington's Foster School of Business.
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