Travelling Choices & Image Management:

A Study of Millennials' Gathering and Traveling Places

Devie Rahmawati

, Giri Lumakto

, Mila Viendyasari

, Amelita Lusia

, Mafindo

Vocational Educational Program, Universitas Indonesia, Depok Indonesia

Universitas Negeri Jakarta, Jakarta Indonesia

Keywords: Millennial, Travel, Social Media, Self-Image

Abstract: The purpose of this study is to reveal Millennials' patterns and behaviours in terms of gathering and travelling

activities. The study used the FGD method of 59 informants. Millennials are an age group that has different

meeting and travelling preferences from other generations. They use technology as the primary tool to plan

and manage the gathering and travelling activities. Social media offers wide opportunities to get affirmations

about their choices and behaviour of gathering and travelling. Nevertheless, Millennials still have a strong

orientation to build real social relations in real life. Even though they always stick to their gadgets during the

gathering and travelling. They still want to go out with friends or family to gather and travel. The choices of

the hanging out a place and travelling destination for Millennials depend on features the places offer. They

should meet the need to build Millennials' self-image before social media users. Sites that offer uniqueness

and novelty in architectural and interior aspects is Millennial's first priority. These aspects correspond to their

habit of documenting and posting photos on social media. Friends' or relatives', and influencers'

recommendations are still a determining factor in Millennials' choice of a place to gather or travel.

1 INTRODUCTION

Tourism is the fastest growing industry in the world

that could contribute significantly to a country's

economy by creating employment and opening new

business opportunities. Globally, the industry is

predicted to grow by an average of 2.8% per year.

Tourism has become a catalyst for a country's

economy, specifically related to income from

currency exchange (Lee, 2017; Huang, 2015;

Kavoura & Stavrianeas, 2015; Krishnapillai & Ying,

2017)

Historically, the word "travel" has a negative

connotation. Its origin derived from the 14th-century

French words "travail" or Mid English "travel" which

means torture and problems. This meaning

corresponds to the tourism activities in the past not as

easy as what is done in the present. High costs and

hard efforts make only a few people able to travel

because the costs of transportation, lodging, and

ownership of horses are difficult to be fulfilled by

most people (Werner, 2015).

The existence of technology, especially the

Internet, has driven the evolution of tourist and

business interactions towards a direct communication

model among consumers. Technology facilitates all

travelling activities and experiences. For examples,

the travel guides have transformed from physical

books to internet applications, virtual tourist

destinations, virtual travel agents, photos, videos,

podcasts, and blogs. They are the trends of today's

tourism business approaches that continue to

capitalize on technological intelligence. (Plunket,

2013; Balouchi, M., & Khanmohammadi, 2015; Koo

& Chung, 2016).

Internet technology that can entertain people on

various occasions through smartphones has presented

a myriad of information without recognizing

boundaries. Since modern people open their eyes in

the morning, until they go to bed at night, they can no

longer be separated from their smartphones. During

2014 there were around 1.7 billion smartphones users

worldwide (Yu, 2015).

The bombardment of digital information to

personal gadgets, among others, could present new

tourist destination offers. When people are exposed to

various information continuously, they will form

beliefs about the contents of the information or news.

This belief could include information on tourist

destinations that encourage people's enthusiasm to

442

Rahmawati, D., Lumakto, G., Viendyasari, M., Lusia, A. and Maﬁndo, .

Travelling Choices Image Management: A Study of Millennials’ Gathering and Traveling Places.

DOI: 10.5220/0010686700002967

In Proceedings of the 4th International Conference of Vocational Higher Education (ICVHE 2019) - Empowering Human Capital Towards Sustainable 4.0 Industry, pages 442-450

ISBN: 978-989-758-530-2; ISSN: 2184-9870

visit various tourist destinations (Koo & Chung,

2016).

Free flow of information traffic about travel on

smartphones is often found on social media and

online news. People do not only become passive

subjects of the available information. But as netizens,

they also actively play a role as media and

information producers (Kavoura & Stavrianeas,

2015). This development is what makes the travelling

experience even beyond the tourism industry's ability

to respond to advances in internet technology. (Koo,

Chung, Kim, & Hie, 2016).

A study conducted by Google revealed that 84%

of non-business travellers (leisure) use the Internet to

plan their trips safely and avoid risk. Whilst tourists

can freely and quickly express various opinions,

information, and experiences via social media with no

limitation of funds, distance, and time in real-time to

seize the broadest audiences. Social media has

revamped traditional communication mechanisms in

the tourism world (Huang, 2015; Garg, 2015;

Gedikoglu, 2018; Balouchi, & Khanmohammadi,

2015; Rudez & Vodeb, 2015).

Smartphones have offered all the sophistication

and comfort for travellers to interpret the travelling

experiences and support to continuously connect with

anyone. Thus, it is unavoidable to use technology

such as travel applications and so on (Yu, 2015;

Werner, 2015). Recorded in 2015, travel applications

ranked 7th as the most downloaded application on the

Apple Store (Werner, 2015).

Technology has also altered the travellers'

lifestyle. In 2012, almost 68% of travellers booked

lodging in the last minutes, i.e. within 24 hours of

their planned stay. And as much as 16.6% booked a

flight within 24 hours before departure by using their

smartphone (Werner, 2015).

Numerous information from social networks such

as Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram quickly affect

many individuals' holiday preferences (Binder &

Szabó, 2017). Technology has been able to facilitate

almost all the needs of travellers before, during, and

after travelling. It could be from booking to receiving

responses on their travelling experiences that have

been shared with everyone all over the world through

social media on smartphones (Plunkett, 2013).

The information spreading by word of mouth

through electronic media (Electronic-Word of Mouth

- E-WOM) has become a significant and powerful

force as a medium of advocacy to seize Millennials

consumers in ways beyond the limit of the simple

friendships (Lee, 2017; Huang 2015). Millennial

travellers utilize social media as a means of sharing

personal experiences, including the travelling

experiences into their social networks.

Stories circulating around digital platforms are

nine times more effective than advertisements. These

stories could affect millions of other potential

customers including travellers to explore more places

that have never even been known by prospective

travellers (Banda & Sindhu, 2014; Gedikoglu, 2018;

Rudez & Vodeh, 2015).

In conclusion, this current condition drives

increasingly competitive competition in the tourism

industry (Suh, 2017).

2 THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK

This study applies several theoretical frameworks,

including generation theory and image theory. Both

theories correspond to the study findings regarding

differences between Millennials' travelling behaviour

and other age-groups. Similar studies in local and

global scope also have highlighted the differences.

However, the use of interpretive approaches is

relatively seldom to be met with. This fact drives the

researchers of this study to use both concepts to

elaborate on the qualitative findings obtained during

the field study.

2.1 Concept of Generation

Generation is a term used to describe the social

impact, originally comes from a time-based

population group, which experiences critical social

activities and historical movements over a specified

period. Also, generation can be defined as a group of

people who have preceded a specific group of people

(Kesterson, 2013). A Millennial is a group of people

born in 1980 to 1994/1995 (Huang & Petrick, 2010).

The generation grows up in the era of Internet

technology development, globalization, and digital

media enhancement, as well as technology evolution

extensively that affects the expectation of the change

and acceptance of broader differences. (Moscardo et

al., 2011)

Millennials are the generation raised by the Baby

Boomers generation. Millennials have fewer siblings

than the previous generations. They also grow in the

culture of high divorce rates, working mothers, and

having parents who are more actively seeking

economic income than the previous one. The parent's

behaviour then generates a Millennial generation that

is optimistic, confident, and individualistic because

they are always under the protection and constantly

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spoiled by receiving responses, awards, and

recognition all times (Moscardo et al., 2011).

The generation is also recorded as a well-

educated generation than the previous one. They

spend more time living with parents which affect their

orientation toward a strong team and focus on

continuously seeking knowledge and education

(Kesterson, 2013). The generation also has a serious

concern to global dynamics which encourages them

to become volunteers more often and then leave

traditional political styles and behaviour (Kesterson,

2013).

The Millennial generation, also known as the Y

generation, is the most active generation in using

social media. They engage in two digital social

networks at least. Facebook is the social media with

the highest Millennial population (Rosen, 2017).

Millennial behaviour which adheres to technology

through social media on a daily basis encourages

them to make it as a means of sharing various things,

including activities and travel experiences (Rosen,

2017). The sharing behaviour is in line with the

development of a new type of economy, i.e., the

experience economy. It is an economy in which many

businesses offer experiences compared to their

products and services so that consumers can be bound

continuously to have their own experiences (Huang,

2015).

This sharing pattern is in line with Millennial

communication behaviour which is obsessed to

incessantly exhibit their various experiences on social

media. Therefore, new experiences become the

rational and emotional needs of this age group. Every

Millennial who obtains a specific experience,

including travelling, has a particular ritual of sharing

it with others in their friendship network and to the

"world" through various applications on smartphones

(Rosen, 2017).

Technology has broadly affected traveller's

behaviour. One of which, it makes social media as a

source of reference for Millennials to carry out

tourism activities, including reservations during the

"injury time" of departure. It also reduces the cultural

shock that is usually experienced by newcomers

when they are in a new place. They have obtained

sufficient and in-depth information on the place and

people before departure. (Rosen, 2017; Werner,

2015; Yu, 2015).

2.2 Human Brand Concept

Internet technology through social media has

generated many new "celebrities" who become

"referrals" of users to think, behave, and even act to

carry out diverse activities, including travelling

activities. The concept of celebrity is a part of the

concept of the personal brand. It is when someone is

labelled a celebrity by the public when his or her

influence reverbs in public (Goffman, 1956; Eager &

Dann, 2016). Here the power of technology opens the

opportunities for non-celebrity individuals to

construct and exhibit their image to a broad audience

without any need to have power attached to some

aspects of fame (Iqani & Schroeder, 2016). There has

also been a meaningful transformation of celebrity to

every person to be able to construct the image in

public (Eager & Dann, 2016).

The selfie has become a perfect presentation

technique for the theory of images developed by

Goffman. The selfie has transformed an individual's

daily life into a mobile theatre which is not limited by

time and space in the millennial era. The structure,

rules, and norms in social media have transformed

into living simulacra of people's culture, society,

subjective lifestyle, and self-extension of each

individual digital self-image as well (Baudrillard,

1994; Belk, 2013).

The selfie has become a dominant narrative

method when it is exhibited on a user-friendly digital

platform such as Instagram. Instagram is a photo-

sharing application that was developed in 2006 on

smartphones (Ting et al., 2015). The fundamental

difference between Instagram and other photo-

sharing applications is that Instagram embraces the

connectedness of social networks with the function of

the hashtag which is easily identified and found

(searchable) through conversations in threads (Eager

& Dann, 2016). Instagram has built a new tradition of

visual sharing and as well as being the stage of

extensive public diary discourse and individual

autobiography. Instagram has become a site for every

individual to show his life, showing not telling (Eager

& Dann, 2016).

The visual exhibition displayed on social media

when it has harmony with the desires, characters, or

hobbies of other individuals exposed to the visual

sequence, could make people follow it and even drive

them to go to the recommended tourist attractions

(Stienmetz, 2016).

The decision taken by a consumer to buy or use a

product and service is partly guided by the image

compatibility perception of the product or service to

the consumer. Based on travellers' experience, some

often seek social meanings rather than merely the

functional meanings of a trip or tourist attractions

(Stienmetz, 2016). In a study conducted in the West,

consumers who documented their travel activities and

attempted to exhibit their experiences, have reflected

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their lifestyle with the hope of gaining recognition for

their existence (Stienmetz, 2016).

In other tourism studies, visual images strongly

affect the consumers' tourist destination preference.

In the sense that visuals can help individuals imitate

the reality of activities that will be carried out by

individuals in the prefered tourist attractions.

(Plunkett, 2013). The attachment to tourist attractions

is formed from experience. The narration of visuals

can represent the real conditions at the tourist

attractions. This is where the role of the media

becomes very strategic in building stimulus for

individuals to travel (Plunkett, 2013).

The theory of media richness delivering the

abundance of the material and scope, including

visuals, play a role in improving the information

performance. The idea of the material abundance

consists of four categories, namely: the ability to

quickly respond; the capacity to transmit various

instructions; the broad language variation, and the

capacity to personalize a message (Plunkett, 2013).

The highest medium of communication is when it can

replicate direct interaction aspects in general so that

consumers can be attracted to the narrative offered

(Plunkett, 2013).

3 METHODOLOGY

"No profit grows where is no pleasure taken, in brief,

sir, study what you most affect." William Shakespeare

- The Taming of the Shrew (Hatten, 2014)

Qualitative research is a method designed to

conduct a behaviour investigation and find the

meaning and impact of the behaviour in a socio-

cultural context (Seal et al., 1998).

In recent years, there has been an increase in the

use of qualitative approaches as an effort to

understand social reality by social behaviour

researchers (Devie et al., 2019). The exclusive ability

of quantitative methods in expressing social

phenomena is deemed insufficient. For this reason,

one of the qualitative research methods that are often

used is FGD. (Sagoe, 2012).

This study uses an interpretive approach through

the Focus Group of Discussion (FGD) method. This

approach uses the interview method as a data

collection technique in the form of knowledge,

attitudes and experiences, pilot testing, and gathering

various recommendations from study participants

through interaction among participants (Seal et al.,

1998; Sagoe, 2012; Doria et al., 2018). Optimal

capacity for conducting an FGD study is around 4 and

12 participants, in 1 to 2 hours, which enables the

formation of groups containing uniform participants

in large discussion groups (Seal et al., 1998; Sagoe,

2012; Doria et al., 2018 ).

In FGD data collected by the researcher who also

acted as a high-skilled moderator, the data collection

method used interview guides with open-ended

question techniques. The moderator guided and

directed the discussion also encouraged the FGD

participants' interest and comfort (Seal et al., 1998;

Doria et al., 2018). The FGDs were held in a

comfortable, relaxing place, as well as not to

intimidate and depress participants. The FGD process

was documented with audiovisual equipment,

transcribed the verbal data of the interview to be

compiled and analyzed on the participants'

knowledge (Doria et al., 2018). Participants can also

accept material compensation in the form of money

or certificates. The compensation given to

participants is legal since participants have taken 1-2

hours to join the discussion (Doria et al., 2018).

The research rooted in sociology initially became

famous for conducting market research. FGDs are

considered capable of helping individuals to explore

and clarify their outlooks more quickly and

efficiently. When group dynamics are working well,

participants and researchers often obtain many

unexpected new findings from various directions

during the FGD (Sagoe, 2012).

In qualitative research, FGDs are positioned

between natural observations and individual

interviews. It opens opportunities for spontaneous

interaction during discussion and dialogue among

participants. Again, the moderator plays his strategic

roles to maintain the course of discussion following

the theme and purpose of the research (Seal et al.,

1998).

The FGD method has the opportunity to collect

data not only from the surface, such as the results of

individual interviews and survey studies but also

FGDs are often used as an adjunct to quantitative

research to facilitate the interviews needs of "why"

and "how" rather than "how much". FGDs can also be

used as an initial study to supply background

information. FGDs are often used to follow up

quantitative system findings to elaborate deeper and

broader, as well as to strengthen quantitative findings

to gain an understanding of the reasons for the

research findings (Seal et al., 1998; Sagoe, 2012). In

other words, when FGD is applied together with

quantitative and qualitative methods, it will have an

impact very efficiently (Sagoe, 2012).

Researchers, marketing practitioners, and

advertisers have more than 60 years of using FGD to

obtain various information in the market. Utilizing

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online media to conduct FGDs has now become

inevitable over the past three decades (Hatten, 2014).

Digital media does not utterly reduce the ability of the

FGD method to be less credible and lose the capacity

to provide alternatives and strengthen other studies

(Hatten, 2014).

In this study, FGDs were conducted towards 59

participants, wherein the participants are dominated

by women aged between 18 and 19 years old, who

mostly live in Jakarta.

Table 1: Demographic Data of FGD Participants.

Sex Male: 18

Female: 41

Place of origin a. Jakarta: 28

b. Bogor: 3

c. Depok: 7

d. Tangerang: 7

e. Bekasi: 6

f. Cirebon: 2

g. Purworejo: 1

h. Medan: 2

i. Sidikalang: 1

j. Tanjung Gading: 1

k. Padan

: 1

Age a. 17 years old: 1

b. 18 years old: 42

c. 19 years old: 13

d. 20 years old: 2

e. 22 years old: 1

4 FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION

This study aims to explore Millennial's perspective

related to the choice of hanging out and travelling

places, with three main questions about the location

of Millennial's gathering (or hangout) place; the

location of Millennial's tourist destination; and the

locations that they always want to revisit.

Regarding the gathering place preference, most

informants said that they classified the gathering

places into two characters namely; 1) places that meet

the basic needs such as eating and drinking; and 2)

places that meet the social needs to carry out dialogue

and exchange ideas with friends or relatives.

Restaurants or cafeterias in Mall fall into the

informants' first classification of basic needs. The

Mall is deemed to be able to provide many alternative

food choices. Favourite restaurants usually serve food

that is different from their daily meal. Besides that,

they also put better favour on a restaurant with a

unique decoration. The reason is that they can share

moments in social media.

Meanwhile, the second place of preference,

wherein they will meet their social needs is a coffee

shop. They chose this specific venue because they

want a place that no longer requires them to order or

consume various food and fill out a menu. But a

coffee shop is preferably a venue to hold a discussion.

The venue should meet some criteria for social

activities such as free Internet, comfortable rooms,

cosy lighting, after-hour services or 24-hours open is

more favourite. By and by, the venue should offer

unique decoration and interior. It should have a calm

atmosphere with a fresh and cold temperature.

Whilst, some informants expressed that they expect a

coffee shop with the amenity of live music

performance.

Furthermore, the interview also revealed a

distinct pattern based on gender-related to the choice

of a hangout place. Female informants tend to visit

shopping centres. They also try out restaurants and

cafes together with their female peers. The female

informant's majority said they appreciated new

restaurants or cafes which were most reviewed by

influencers on social media. However, there are a

small number of female informants who choose to

visit the same restaurants or cafes frequently because

of the easy distance and preferences of their social

groups.

Contrary to the female counterparts, male

informants described gathering at friends' or relatives'

home or lodging is more pleasant and efficient. Even

so, male informants also claimed that they also have

ever visited cafes which provided facilities such as an

Internet network, quiet atmosphere, and smoking

area. They prefer to go to the same place with their

male peers to hang out. However, when their female

peers also come along, male informants claim to

approve their female peers' preference. It means that

the male informants are in a situation where they

would visit different venues for each meeting.

Female informants prefer to explore various

meeting places that are different from one venue to

another. A diverse preference for gathering places

was always apparent, both to meet basic needs and

social needs. Served menu of the venue should also

have the right taste. They would not return to a similar

restaurant within a short period of time after a

meeting. Majority of the informants claimed that they

always wanted to have different documented

memories from each meeting.

Informants' desired tourism destinations, both

female and male, are the ones that offer beautiful

scenery and exquisite atmosphere. The reason is that

they always want to have unique, exciting, and

different visual and audiovisual records. Most of the

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informants said that when they were to choose to go

on a tour or travel abroad, they would prefer to travel

abroad. Their primary motivation is driven by

recurrent references from social media influencers,

promoting tourist spots using videos and pictures.

This study informants' passion for culture, as well as

admiration, become their basic argument in choosing

the destination as well. Several favourite countries

and cities they would love to visit are South Korea,

Germany, the Maldives, Tokyo, Paris, London, and

New York. However, domestic tourism destinations

they would like to visit are Bali, Bandung,

Yogyakarta, Raja Ampat, and Labuan Bajo.

All of the informants are university students. As

university students, their daily activities are bound to

academic endeavours. They really appreciate class

break during the weekend or holidays. It was one of

the reasons why most informants said they always

want to return to their hometowns as possible. The

memories of comfort, tranquillity, and togetherness

with loved ones make their hometown always the first

place to visit in their mind. Home is better than other

favourite tourist attractions. Such a place they prefer

to go does not always attribute to the place of birth.

Instead, it could also be the place where their parents

or ancestors originated. Informants' childhood

sojourn has awakened their memories of the place

they love.

Whilst in the tourism destination, the informants,

mostly save and share as many memories in the form

of social media posts with their friends. These

activities were sometimes done incessantly. They

never stopped capturing every moment of the tour.

The main memory they want to capture from the

tourism site is visual documentation. All informants

agreed that physical memories or memorabilia were

not a priority. They thought the stories manifested in

the photos they store and share through their social

media are more desirable.

Most informants also love being able to travel

with their parents to many tourist areas. Travelling

with parents provides convenience and security for

them to undergo and focus on most activities in

tourist destinations. Especially when it comes to

paying entrance fees or other necessities,

furthermore, they have the opportunities to be able to

enjoy the tourist area comfortably because their

parents have managed the accommodation and

transportation facilities.

As all of the informants were born at a time when

the Internet has become an inseparable part of human

life. Its implication for their travelling behaviour is

also noteworthy. The decision to choose a place to

hang around or travel begins with the information

they retrieve from the technology they use every day.

Majority of the informants claimed that they strongly

depend on technology and social media in

determining many decisions-making. This includes

deciding the excellent location to carry out social and

leisure activities. This leads to their habit of visiting

places that are famously reviewed on social media.

Millennials firmly believe in social media influencers

and the digital community. Social media influencers

can produce and promote instagramable contents on

Instagram. Today, Instagram is the most popular

photo-sharing platform and communication channel

among Millennials. It also is one of the main

references to determine any place for the Millenials

to visit.

This behaviour does not only occur in

determining gathering places but also in choosing

travelling destinations. Today's social media

dramatically influences Millennials' decisions in

figuring out where they will travel. They could decide

from the people's insights into each hangout place or

vacation. They seem to be able to reach places that

have never even been seen in person. They could

learn the ins and outs of any place before heading out

for a real trip.

Although several previous studies suggest that

attractive spatial designs encourage consumers to

have memorable experiences that lead to consumer

loyalty which will return to use the products or

services provided (Huang, 2015), however, other

studies findings are unlikely in this study FGD

results. All of the informants said that they felt

pleasure at a place that offers a distinct and unique

atmosphere. This was well reflected through their

photo documentations while visiting the place.

Furthermore, the comfort and excitement depicted on

their social media posts of the place have represented

a wholesome experience and memories. So that they

did not want to return to the place anymore, this fact

is in line with the findings of Pendergast's (2010)

study, which states that Millennials have the

characteristics of low brand loyalty.

A study conducted by Werner (2015) suggests

that travelling is not merely about movement using

transportation means. For example, is boarding the

aeroplanes and then collecting many information

brochures. But what is needed is an epic experience

that can change a person's life. Werner's study is

reasonably relevant to the findings of the FGD. For

most informants, travelling is not only about

exploring a new place. It is also about how to collect

considerable numbers of experiences and documents

they could. The exceptional value of a trip or social

activity (like hanging out) for Millennials is when it

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can be proven with activities photographs posted on

their social media. Turkle in Yu (2015) predicted the

technology that becomes a foundation and hope for

human comfort, including during travelling,

compared to anything else is ultimately not entirely

legitimate. Although according to the informants,

togetherness with friends and family remains a

priority. However, the photos on their Instagram or

other social media also become a vital part of every

trip or gathering.

During social activities, hanging out, and

travelling, all informants claim that they also

multitasked other activities with their smartphones in

hand. The main activity was sharing the stories about

the time when they were hanging out. They would

proceed to share the photos of the hanging out

activities. This behaviour is indeed a typical pattern

carried out not only by this study informant.

Technology has forced modern humans to become

"superhuman" beings by carrying out many activities

at one time (multitasking). On their digital devices,

individuals do their tasks, play games, read an e-

book, watch movies, listen to music while browsing

the Internet (Yu, 2015).

Photo documentation has become a shared

agreement among all the study informants.

Additionally, most of the photos were captured in the

selfie mode. According to the informants, selfies

could capture memorable moments with friends,

exciting locations. The selfie could festoon the visual

feast on their social media account as well. Their

motive is to inform about recommended and

interesting places people should visit. And it could

also inspire others to come to the place. In several

discussions with the informants, they did not deny

how proud they are of having people appreciate their

unique and valuable photos of a certain place as the

photos could drive people to turn up at the places.

This pride feeling was also what drives most

informants to share their photos of the place. Such

pleasure also led them to always visit different places

from the previous ones. They were happy when they

could become a reference for others. This

phenomenon corresponds to the conception of selfie

in which it becomes the power of narration to build

the human-brand image through social media (Eager

& Dann, 2016).

This unforeseen phenomenon of a human-brand

image has prompted informants' personality into the

vortex of self-commodification. They have sold their

stories through social media. In the past, the process

of highlighting someone's strengths was demanding.

Someone should pass through a complex layer of

hierarchy to share his or her experiences and bits of

knowledge with others and be enjoyed by the wider

public. Today, every individual can actively play a

role as a producer of information. Afterwards, this

information could assist them in constructing an

image as a person who has broad activities and access

to social networks (Eager & Dann, 2016).

Self-presentation is an essential element for

travellers (Stienmetz, 2016). The informants said that

as travellers, their trip was not only to fulfil the

recreational needs. But it is to meet social needs like

seeking peace. And it is also to acquire a place to

share experiences, both for the real-world friends and

for the cyberspace friends on social media. Although

few informants begged to differ, some informants

also acknowledged that sharing and displaying on

social media was right to make sure they could show

their ability to follow the trends. This phenomenon

correlates to Rich's (2012) study. He states that the

Millennial generation is a generation that craves

recognition from their social network, which is

validated through photos or videos shared on social

media.

However, when informants' social needs were

noticeable, they would possibly be encouraged to

revisit the place (Stienmetz, 2016). In the FGD,

indeed few informants told that they wanted to return

to the places they have visited before. It was not

because of the display of aesthetic manifestation. But

it was because of two issues. Firstly, when their

friends reinvited them to hang out at the same place.

Finally, the place must have provided different

comforts, such as a tranquil atmosphere, which is

essential when someone wants to have a more in-

depth conversation with friends.

Above-mentioned informant novel social

behaviour in social media correspond to findings of

Banda's (2015) study. In his study, which implies that

the character of technology such as Facebook indeed

has a global appeal. Features that allow anyone to

connect with others and display their personal

advertisements to become exciting and tempting

activities. Travellers, including this study informants,

acknowledge that technology was not only used to

gather information about the preference of tourist

attractions and made quick or last-minute decisions

from those choices. But it is also to establish

connectivity with others through photos they post on

social media (Planket, 2013).

The desire to share experiences through photos is

not solely based on the availability of digital

infrastructure like social media. But it is also because

empirically prospective travellers will choose the

places with beautiful sceneries (Krishnapillai & Ying,

2017). The power of information distributed through

ICVHE 2019 - The International Conference of Vocational Higher Education (ICVHE) “Empowering Human Capital Towards Sustainable

4.0 Industry”

448

word of mouth (WOM) techniques on social media

becomes an element of necessity. Its ability to spread

rapidly and offer a broad range of information on

various digital communication networks are

inevitable. Indeed, every tourist attraction has its

image. Nonetheless, only a few places have a

perdurable image compared to other places

(Gedikoglu, 2018). According to most informants,

the presence of technology can actually fashion any

place to look amazing depending on informants' skills

to present the narration through photos posted on

social media.

5 CONCLUSIONS AND

RECOMMENDATIONS

This study reveals that Millennials are an age group

that has distinctive gathering and travelling places

preferences from other generations. They utilize

technology devices and features as the primary tool to

plan and manage their lives, including gathering and

travelling. Technology has also provided full

opportunities to get pronouncement about their

travelling choices, activities, and programs.

Furthermore, technology also confirms a shared

understanding of gathering and travelling behaviour

among the informants.

Nevertheless, Millennials still demonstrate a

strong orientation to build actual social relations in

real life. Even though they always stick their attention

to gadgets during the gathering and travelling

activities. Yet, they still desire to go out or travel with

friends or family.

The place of choice for Millennials rests on the

features that can accommodate the need to build their

self-image before the public, especially in social

media. Hang out, and leisure places that offer

uniqueness and novelty in architectural and interior

aspects would be the leading choices for them. On the

basis that every meeting and trip, would always be

visually documented on their social media. They need

a wide range of places to show people that they do

have an active life in the public, although their loyalty

is low towards a specific place.

Nonetheless, this does not rule out the possibility

for them to return to the place. As long as the place

could offer them benefits like comfortability and

calmness, they would possibly revisit. Because it

could be a place for them to honestly share and talk

heart to heart. In addition to the visually artistic

factor, the recommendation of friends or relatives

remains a determining choice for places to gather or

travel. Reliable and trusted social media influencers

could also persuade them with beautifully crafted

audiovisual Instagram content.

The study was conducted by implementing the

FGD method. It involved 59 informants. However,

this study is far from perfect. A similar study should

be consolidated by quantitative measures in the

future. Other qualitative studies should also be

conducted in the future. Such studies are ethnography

or phenomenology, which are expected to reveal

other facts about the topic of Millennials behaviour in

gathering and travelling. Finally, more focused and

longitudinal studies of similar topics are expected in

the future so that they could contribute to the body of

study and understanding of generation Y.

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