Gen Z Browses. Millennials Buy.

What if the generation that shows up most often at the duty-free counter isn't the one actually paying at it? A study released at the TR Consumer Forum, held at Geneva Airport from July 1 to 3, poses exactly that question. Gen Z enters duty-free stores at almost the same rate as every other generation — but the share that actually opens their wallet is noticeably lower. Millennial business travelers, on the other hand, have become the single biggest spenders in travel retail today. This isn't a story about a generational handover in progress. It's a story about two generations spending in completely different ways inside the same store.

The Numbers Out of Geneva

The TR Consumer Forum, hosted by IATA and co-organized by TRBusiness and m1nd-set, held its sixth edition this year. In his keynote, m1nd-set founder and CEO Dr. Peter Mohn summed up the industry's problem in a single line:

"The market has the passenger volume, but the challenge is converting that into higher retail relevance, spend and profitability."

The backdrop Mohn laid out gives that line its weight. International departures in 2026 reached 2.414 billion, or 122% of 2019 levels. Yet airports' share of non-aeronautical revenue actually fell, from 40.2% in 2019 to 36.7% in 2023, and within that, retail concession revenue slipped to around 20% of total non-aeronautical revenue, down from 27% in 2019. Passenger volume didn't just recover — it grew past its old ceiling. Store revenue hasn't kept pace. m1nd-set calls this gap the "efficiency paradox," and points to the growing share of Gen Z travelers as one of its core drivers.

That backdrop is what makes this survey's Gen Z and Millennial data matter. According to the research unveiled at the forum, Gen Z footfall into duty-free stores runs 36–45% — statistically indistinguishable from every other generation. Simply walking into the store, in other words, doesn't vary by age at all.

The problem starts after that. Gen Z's purchase rate sits in the mid-20% range, well below the roughly 30% for other generations. That gap carries straight through to conversion: Gen Z converts below 60%, while other age groups hover around 65%. The more telling detail is why they walk in at all. The top reason Gen Z gave for entering a duty-free store was "to kill time before the flight" (27%) — they're treating the store as a place to spend spare time, not a place to shop.

Millennial (ages 29–44) business travelers, by contrast, now make up roughly 40% of global passenger traffic and spend an average of $151 per head — well above the overall average of $128. High-margin premium categories like beauty, fashion, jewelry, and watches are led by Millennials, while Baby Boomers remain concentrated in traditional categories like spirits, tobacco, and confectionery. Worth noting too: more than 80% of Millennial respondents said staff interaction had a positive effect on their purchase decision, versus only around 60% for Baby Boomers.

Same Store, Two Different Generations

The point worth dwelling on isn't the gap in spending power between the two generations — it's where that gap opens up. Contrary to the usual assumption, Gen Z's problem isn't a lack of money. They come into the store — footfall is identical to every other generation. The problem is that whatever happens once they're inside fails to pull them toward a purchase. The reasons Gen Z cited for not buying make this clearer: they'd already bought the item elsewhere, they never intended to buy anything, they didn't want to add to their luggage, prices felt higher than at home, the assortment lacked anything unique or innovative, promotions were limited, or there wasn't enough genuinely local product. Most of these are complaints about the in-store experience and assortment — not price.

The same research also found that Gen Z responds far more actively than other generations to storytelling, interactive store design, and experiential brand presentations. Lining products up on a shelf and waiting won't convert this generation — but brands that have invested in in-store activation have already won them over.

Millennials operate on a completely different logic. They're exposed to duty-free communications well before they travel — through social media and in-flight platforms — and actively use price-comparison tools before ever reaching the store. They arrive with a rough idea of what they intend to buy. Once inside, they respond far more strongly than other generations to staff recommendations. For Millennials, the store isn't a place of "discovery" — it's the touchpoint that closes a decision they've already mostly made.

In other words, the two generations expect completely different things from the same duty-free store. For Gen Z, the store is an unverified space of discovery. For Millennials, it's the place that completes a purchase they've already planned.

Why This Gap Matters Now

This isn't just an interesting statistic, for two reasons.

First, the fact that Millennials have overtaken Baby Boomers as travel retail's top spenders undercuts the assumptions behind decades of store design, merchandising, and marketing strategy. Duty free's traditional core categories — spirits, tobacco, fragrance — and its VIP service model were largely built around Baby Boomer and Gen X spending habits. Millennials becoming the primary spending cohort is a signal to rebalance investment toward premium beauty, fashion, and jewelry categories, and toward pre-travel digital touchpoints like social media and in-flight commerce.

Second, Gen Z contributes little to revenue today, but it will be travel retail's core spending base for the next 10 to 20 years. Leave them now as "the generation that doesn't convert," and that learned indifference risks carrying forward even once they reach Millennial age. Invest now in experiential retail and storytelling that shapes Gen Z's buying habits, and you're effectively laying the revenue foundation for the next decade. This gap, then, isn't simply a difference in generational spending — it's simultaneously a question of today's revenue (Millennials) and the seeds of future revenue (Gen Z).

Practical Takeaways

• Duty-free merchandisers: Now is the time to reallocate shelf space and promotional budget in premium beauty, fashion, jewelry, and watch categories toward Millennial spending data. Traditional categories centered on spirits, tobacco, and confectionery should be considered for gradual downsizing in step with Baby Boomer attrition
• Store operations and CS teams: Millennials respond strongly to staff interaction. Investing in product knowledge and recommendation training for premium-category sales staff is likely to translate directly into higher conversion
• Marketing and digital teams: Millennials make much of their purchase decision before departure, via social media and in-flight platforms. Digital communication during the pre-travel journey, and a strategy for countering price comparison, now matter as much as in-store promotion
• Store design and brand activation teams: Gen Z isn't failing to buy because of price — it's the lack of experience. Storytelling pop-ups, interactive displays, and experiential tastings and demos — investments that give people "a reason to stay" — are the real levers for lifting this generation's conversion rate
• Korean duty-free operators (Lotte, Shilla, Shinsegae, Hyundai): Gathering generational breakdowns of Incheon and Gimpo airport traffic to separately analyze Gen Z and Millennial share and spending patterns is worth doing now. If domestic data mirrors the pattern seen in Geneva, being first to build a category-by-generation targeting strategy at home is an open opportunity

Conclusion

The split between Gen Z's and Millennials' duty-free spending patterns means travel retail can no longer treat "travelers" as a single, undifferentiated category. Millennials are the proven top spenders today; Gen Z is tomorrow's spending base, not yet converted. As long as both generations are served the same store layout, the same promotions, and the same service approach, this gap won't close. There's one question left to answer: invest first in Millennials, who drive today's revenue — or in Gen Z, who will determine revenue ten years from now?