Times have changed, and travel is no exception.

The travel preferences of Generation Z are gradually becoming the focus of the cultural tourism industry. This group of young people who grew up in the wave of the Internet and globalization is defining the meaning of “travel” in a new way: they pursue personalization and immersion, and are no longer satisfied with “check-in” walks, but hope to have a real emotional connection with the world during the journey.

In order to better understand the behavioral changes and internal motivations of this generation of travelers, industry platforms are also actively exploring and responding to the travel needs of Generation Z.

On September 10, at the main forum of the 2025 Global Travel News Summit, Kong Zhiqiu, head of Airbnb China’s business, presented the new gameplay of outbound travel driven by young people with the title of “Opening the Imagination Space of Outbound Travel, Airbnb’s Generation Z Breaking the Circle”.

The following is a transcript of the speech, the content of which has been deleted.

As a practitioner in the travel industry, Airbnb hopes that technology and humanities go hand in hand, and we hope to be a good partner for every traveler to help everyone explore the world.

To become a good partner for travelers, you must first understand them. China and the Asia-Pacific region more broadly are the most dense and promising regions for Gen Z.

Generation Z travelers present three characteristics: resonating with the world, the purpose is greater than the destination, and travel is life.

When outbound travel has just resumed, young travelers in particular have shown a desire to reconnect with the world, and the first step to reconnecting is to arrive at their destination in peace.

Based on this insight, we have also created corresponding products to help users find safe accommodations, such as “Guest Recommendations”, which is based on ratings, reviews and reliability data from more than 500 million trips, making it easy for users to discover the most popular word-of-mouth listings. Since its launch, this product has been well received by travelers around the world, with more than 250 million room nights booked since its launch.

In order to better serve Chinese tourists, we have launched the “Chinese Host” label to help everyone communicate with peace of mind in unfamiliar destinations and achieve a smoother and easier communication experience.

At the same time, travel is a spiritual antidote for Gen Z to fight daily burnout and escape mechanical repetition, a brief escape aimed at “going to work” and releasing physical and mental stress, and we have created an authentic and immersive “dopamine” universe for young people.

In the trend culture, Kpop is unavoidable, many young people go to South Korea to chase stars to see their Idol, pursue “where am I burdened, where am I”, walk the road walked by idols, eat the food eaten by idols.

For example, we have carried out in-depth cooperation with the K-pop group SEVENTEEN.

Last year, Airbnb perfectly reproduced the music scene in the MV of SEVENTEEN’s title song, inviting global K-pop lovers to live in the SEVENTEEN music home in the camera;

In May this year, SEVENTEEN became an Airbnb experience host and invited Carat to celebrate the 10th anniversary of their debut in Seoul.

Just last weekend, during SEVENTEEN’s concert in Seoul, we also launched an “Airbnb exclusive” experience program such as learning to dance iconic dances with SEVENTEEN’s star choreographers.

According to the data, the popularity of Italy’s Amalfi Coast has doubled, and travelers can take beautiful cliff photos in Lemon Town; Lake Como in Italy has grown nearly 3 times, going deep into the same lake fantasy as “Star Wars”; Prague, Czech Republic, with its unique aesthetic of classical architecture, has nearly tripled its search heat……

To sum up, whether it is the awakening of niches, the slow charging of mountains and seas, or the rush to love, the strength of the film, the new trends and diversified gameplay presented by this Golden Week outbound travel break the boundaries of travel and life.

Airbnb changed the way people travel 17 years ago and has now served more than 2 billion people around the world.

Behind this, we have a global supply network with more than 8 million active listings; We have also continued to innovate our products, releasing more than 750 product updates in the past four years. And we continue to create differentiated brand experiences through unique brand marketing.

Today, the Airbnb community is stronger, and our original intention to build and deepen real connections between people remains the same.

We hope that Airbnb is a brand that understands me, has love, and has warmth, and in the future, we will continue to accompany every traveler to the world further.