WeRoad study shows travel most important way for young people to meet

Travel now ranks as the most important way that young Europeans meet other people, according to new research.

A poll for solo adventure travel specialist WeRoad found that 45% of respondents said travel is the context in which they get to know others most often, up significantly from 30% in 2025.

Travel now ranks ahead of work and university (33%), friends of friends (31%), sport and hobbies (29%), events (28%) and apps or social networks (9%, up from 4% in 2025).

The findings are included in WeRoad’s second annual ‘How Travel is Changing’ report, which surveyed 5,000 people aged 20–40, across Italy, Spain, France, Germany and the UK.

Two thirds (66%) of respondents believe that meeting new people today is harder than in the past, up from 58% in 2025.

Almost half (47%) of respondents attributed this difficulty to the decline of spontaneous social opportunities, followed by lack of time (33%), difficulty knowing where to start (25%) and social anxiety (21%).

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Digital fatigue plays a role, considering that 72% want more offline social experiences.

Fabio Bin, co-founder at WeRoad, said: “With WeRoad Research 2026, we wanted to understand why certain experiences still create meaningful connections between people, particularly against the backdrop of the global loneliness crisis.

“We know people remain hungry for connection and offline experiences, but the places where relationships actually form are changing.

“Everyday life no longer fulfills this need, and travel is beginning to replace it as the preferred space where people connect more naturally.

“Shared time and experiences outside of daily routines seem to create the conditions for more authentic relationships to develop.”